MNI BRIEF: BOJ's Amamiya Downplays Increased YCC Flexibility

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya, who is viewed as a frontrunner to be the next governor, said on Friday that he doesn’t see the need to further increase the flexibility of yield curve control soon.

Amamiya, however, told lawmakers the BOJ will aim to manage monetary policy flexibly while carefully watching favorable effects and side-effects.

“The functioning in financial markets is moving towards improvement, although the distortion in financial markets continues,” Amamiya said.

He said the BOJ continues to make efforts to restore the functioning in financial markets by conducting operations in a flexible manner.

Amamiya said Japan is still far from the achievement of the BOJ's 2% price target in a stable and sustainable manner, and therefore the bank maintains easy policy. He also said the year-on-year rise in the core Consumer Price Index will fall below 2% in the middle of the next fiscal year.

He said it was appropriate for the BOJ to aim for the achievement of its 2% price target in a stable and sustainable manner, ruling out the view the BOJ would review the 2% price target.

He added that it is premature to discuss an exit of easy policy, but said the BOJ will communicate in an appropriate manner if the bank is close to the achievement of its 2% price target.