In today’s address to the parliament, BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda provided note that the economy is “recovering moderately,” which is further evidenced by the narrowing of the output gap to “near zero”.
Ueda also highlighted “We’re seeing some positive signs in wages and inflation”. However, he tempered this optimism by acknowledging the “high uncertainty on whether this cycle will strengthen”
A key point in Ueda’s commentary was BoJ’s stance on inflation. Despite the positive signs, he stated that the central bank cannot yet assert with confidence that inflation will sustainably and stably achieve its 2% target.