TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan should conduct a review of monetary policy framework and tweak its massive stimulus programme depending on the outcome, its board member Naoki Tamura was quoted by the Asahi newspaper as saying.
While the timing of the review would depend on economic, price and wage developments, it could come “soon or at a somewhat later date,” Tamura told an interview with Asahi published on Friday.
“Whether the BOJ needs to tweak its (ultra-easy) monetary policy will depend on the outcome of the review,” he said.
Tamura is the first incumbent BOJ policymaker to publicly call for a review of the bank’s policy framework, which consists of massive asset purchases, a negative short-term interest rate target and a pledge to cap the 10-year bond yield around 0%.
Tamura also said there was scope to review the feasibility of the central bank’s 2% inflation target and consider it as a more flexible goal as the level may have been too high for Japan, according to the paper.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Mark Porter and Stephen Coates)
