BOJ govenor Kuroda made a speech on his confirmation hearing in parliament at the lower house today
Apart from the same old rhetoric, these were the only comments of note - highlighted in bold.
Kuroda's comments today were ambiguous at best in my view. He tried to play the flexibility card, but it came out wrong. And it's not the first time that has happened. Kuroda made a similar type of commentary that inflation is closing in on the 2% target in Davos earlier this year only for the BOJ to clarify via its spokesperson that it's no different to the central bank's current view.
The most notable of the comments today were that he said the BOJ can possibly change policy even if inflation target is yet to reach 2%. But then he also said that the BOJ could also stay pat and not do anything until inflation target hits 2%. That pretty much sums it up for me as to what message he's trying to get across.
The fact that he stuck a timeline on exiting policy (around fiscal year 2019) is unusual, but it is likely that he was answering questions posed regarding what happens if inflation does hit the 2% target in 2019 - as per Kuroda's personal view.
But nonetheless, the fact that he's starting to talk about considerations in normalising monetary policy is something worthy of note. I warned about that earlier in the week here.
However, once again, for all the talks of normalisation and exiting easing policies, the key factor will be inflation. It's been said too many times that it is devoid of all meaning, but it's something that must be hammered upon again. The BOJ will not lift a finger unless we're moving remotely close towards the 2% inflation target, that is that.
And even when it does move towards that, further complications will arise. What tools will the BOJ tweak first? By how much? Rates, YCC, JGB purchases, ETF purchases? That will be the real question when the time comes.
Anyway, if you didn't get enough of your daily dose of Kuroda today, there's more coming up next week as he speaks at the upper house in parliament on 6 March and there's also the BOJ monetary policy meeting on 9 March - where he will deliver a presser after.