Japan Economy Minister Akazawa:
- No change to the government's stance to work closely with the BOJ on policy with an eye on the economy and prices.
- In deciding whether to declare a full exit from deflation, what's important is to ensure Japan does not slip back into deflation again.
- Once we are able to declare a full end to deflation, we can relieve ourselves from deploying the tools we had in store to fight deflation.
- Japan's economy is at a 'critical stage' in eradicating the public's deflationary mindset and shifting to a phase where growth is spearheaded by higher wages and investment.
It doesn't sound like Akazawa thinks the job is over on fighting deflation?
Given inflation data consistently above the BoJ 2% target I think he needs to chillax a little.
