Minutes of BoJ’s July 14/15 meeting showed policymakers are concerned with resurgence of coronavirus in Japan. A few board members noted, “infection numbers are increasing at a faster pace globally, so we need to be on alert of the possibility of a re-insurgence including in Japan”. Another member warned, “if infection numbers rise again, the timing of an economic recovery will be delayed.”
Overall, members agreed “the economy, with economic activity resuming, was likely to improve gradually from the second half of this year; however, the pace of improvement was expected to be only moderate while the impact of COVID-19 remained worldwide.”