BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told the parliament today that “the BOJ’s various tools, including its ETF buying, will be the target of the March review. We’ll examine how our tools are affecting markets and look at what we can do better.” He added that government bond buying has already slowed substantially as markets are calm. Average duration of the bond holdings also remained stable a around seven years.
Separately, former BoJ deputy governor Hirohide Yamaguchi told Reuters that BoJ’s review is “unlikely” to come up with “an outcome that has a substantial impact on the economy and markets. “The review will probably be just a show of gesture that it’s doing ‘something’ to address the cost,” said Yamaguchi.
“It’s impossible for the BOJ to guide public perceptions at its will,” Yamaguchi added. “It’s time now for the BOJ to conduct a ‘genuine’ policy review and use the findings to modify its policy framework.”
