L’offensive des Banques Centrales pour reprendre la situation en mains ne cesse de se développer, en rafales, depuis le début de l’année. Il n’est pas de jour ou ils ne tirent de nouvelles cartouches; on pare au plus pressé, on court d’un trou à l’autre, d’une brèche à l’autre. La dernière en date était la forte remontée du Yen. Comme on pouvait donc s’y attendre, ils sont montés au créneau , et c’est la tête de Kuroda qui a dépassé. Il est prêt à augmenter les stimulus monétaires et il affirme comme Draghi qu’il n’y a pas de limite à son action.  En même temps il nie l’évidence et veut nous faire croire que la BOJ n’aimerait pas un Yen plus faible. 

The Bank of Japan is ready to expand monetary stimulus again if recent weaknesses in inflation expectations continue. Speaking ahead of a meeting of the G20 financial leaders in Washington this week, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda dismissed the view that the central bank’s decision in January to adopt negative interest rates was directly aimed at weakening the yen to give Japan’s exports a trade advantage and stressed that there are « many ways » to achieve his ambitious price target.

At a seminar hosted by Columbia University on Wednesday, Kuroda said, « I can clearly say that our monetary policy … isn’t targeted at exchange rates. »

The BOJ decided in January to add negative interest rates to its massive asset-buying program in a fresh attempt to achieve its 2 percent inflation target, a move that was unsuccessful in arresting the strength of the yen. Instead, the rate changed brought Japanese business sentiment to its lowest in nearly three years and weakened inflation expectations, putting even more pressure on the BOJ to do more to shore up the ailing economy.

No Sign of Weakness

Kuroda dismisses the view held by his critics that the decision to deploy negative rates was a sign the BOJ has exhausted its monetary policy tools and told the meeting that the BOJ has room to cut rates even deeper into negative territory.

The BOJ’s policy board is scheduled to meet on April 27-28 and will release its quarterly forecasts on prices and the economy, along with a policy decision. It may have to change its projection that inflation will hit 2 percent around the first half of fiscal 2017 if assumptions it was based on, such as oil price moves, change.