Kuroda answering questions in Japan's parliament today:

  • even when stripping off one-off factors, Japan's consumer inflation is weaker than that of US, Europe
  • hard for inflation to hit 2% unless wages rise in tandem with prices
  • biggest factor behind Japan's weak price growth is fact that households, firms act on the assumption prices won't rise much
  • its important to maintain powerful monetary easing to support the economy, generate wage and price growth
  • the BOJ acknowledge that buying ETFs is extraordinary monetary policy set that no other central bank conducts
  • Bank of Japan ETF buying has had certain effect in taming markets when investors become too averse to risk
  • BOJ only buys ETFS when markets turn sharply risk averse, holds off from purchases otherwise

Kuroda referring to the role of wage rises in CPI lifting. And doing so with more grace than BoE Governor Bailey: