BoJ: Further easing not ruled out yet – UOB

Senior Economist at UOB Group Alvin Liew reviews the latest BoJ monetary policy meeting.

Key Quotes

“The Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided to keep its policy measures unchanged at its first Monetary Policy Meeting of 2021 today (21 Jan). And in its January 2021 outlook for economic activity and prices (The Bank’s View), the BOJ unsurprisingly kept its cautious recovery outlook (unchanged from Oct 2020 MPM) but upgraded FY2021/22 growth forecasts, taking into account of the government’s fiscal stimulus package announcement in Dec 2020.”

“The policy inaction and growth forecast upgrades for FY2021/22 … were both in line with market expectations. Looking forward into the next MPM, we maintain our view for the BOJ to do more and enhance its monetary policy easing further. Recall also that BOJ during its Oct 2020 MPM, announced it will review its QQE framework and that could portend monetary policy changes this coming March 2021 MPM.”