BoJ board member Yutaka Harada hailed that the quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE) program boosted productivity and drove down unemployment rate. He said in a speech that “the biggest contribution QQE has made to Japan’s economy was to boost its productivity.” Also, “without QQE, Japan’s jobless rate would not have fallen below 2.5 percent”.
Harada is a persistent dissent in BoJ’s monetary policy decisions. He complained regularly that allowing the long-term yields to move upward and downward to some extent was too ambiguous as the guideline for market operations. Also, he urged to introduce forward guidance that would further clarify its relationship with the price stability target.
