Japan
Hayami repeats reform need for economic recovery
JAPAN - Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami played up the need for Japan to promote structural reforms in order to help its depressed economy get back on track.
BOJ maintains gloomy overall view of economy
TOKYO - The Bank of Japan maintained its gloomy overall view on business conditions on 21 May, saying weaker exports were denting production and keeping the economy stuck in an adjustment phase.
Monthly economic report from Bank of Japan
Japan - The Bank of Japan published its monthly monetary policy report of recent economic and financial developments on 21 May.
Monetary policy and the economic outlook in Japan
SPEECH - Given by Kazuo Ueda, Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan, at Council on Foreign Relations in New York, May 11.
The "too-big-to-fail" policy in Japan
RESEARCH - Mark Spiegel and Nobuyoshi Yamori of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco analyse evidence from market equity values of the too-big-to-fail" policy in Japan in a working paper for the economic research department of the Federal Reserve…
Financial Policy and Central Banking in Japan
BOOK - A new book by T. Cargill, M. Hutchison and T. Ito analyses how the bank-dominated financial system - a key element of the oft-heralded "Japanese economic model" - broke down in the 1990s and spawned sweeping reforms.
Banks refusing funds from BOJ
JAPAN - Japanese monetary policy encountered a significant hitch yesterday, 9 May, after it failed to persuade banks to accept any more funds. The money was virtually free as interest rates in Japan are close to zero.
Chief denies Bank of Japan Governor will resign
JAPAN - Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, categorically ruled out the possibility that Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami will resign soon. He was speaking on 9 May.
Main comments from ECB's Issing speech
SPEECH - Edited highlights of a speech by Otmar Issing, chief economist of the European Central Bank, at a business seminar in London on May 3.
Ex-BOJ Fukui warns policy shift has dangers
TOKYO - The Bank of Japan's (BOJ) recent adoption of a radically different easy money policy risks driving the yen to excessively low levels and, worse, could set a profligate government on the path to fiscal bankruptcy, a former deputy governor of the…
G7 accept Japanese financial reform will happen
JAPAN - The chief of Japan's financial watchdog said on May 1 members of the Group of Seven (G7) nations at a weekend meeting in Washington had expressed understanding of the government's efforts to undertake structural reform.
Bank of Japan Mar 19 meeting minutes
TOKYO - Key points from minutes issued by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on May 1 from the meeting of its Policy Board on Mar 19.
Hayami to resign (maybe)
BoJ governor, Masaru Hayami, arriving at the weekend's G7 meeting in Washinton denies reports that he is about to quit.
Economic outlook bleak for Japan
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has painted a bleak economic picture of weak growth combined with intensifying deflation in its half-yearly report. But a 1.6% rise in retail sales in March from a year earlier provided a ray of hope for new Prime Minister…
BoJ to implement RTGS for foreign cbank JGB sales
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan said it will improve its infrastructure to enable Japanese government bond sales by foreign central banks to be settled under the real-time gross settlement system.
Yen weak vs dollar - ex-MOF Sakakibara-Kyodo
JAPAN - The yen is likely to remain weak against the dollar for the time being, Eisuke Sakakibara, a former vice finance minister for international affairs, said in an interview with Kyodo News this week.
Foreign exchange origins of Japan's economic slump
ARTICLE - Ronald McKinnon from Stanford University and Kenichi Ohno from Tokyo's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies have written an article on "The Foreign Exchange Origins of Japan's Economic Slump and Low Interest Liquidity Trap". The…
Developments in the Japanese government bond mkt
CENTRAL BANK RESEARCH - The Bank of Japan has published a new reseach paper "Market Participants' Behavior and Pricing Mechanisms in the JGB Markets". In this paper, which is based on interviews with market participants, the authors explore various…
Tokyo denies intention to depreciate yen
JAPAN - The Financial Times reported on Apr 17 that Japanese officials were attempting to deny rumours that Tokyo was trying to boost its flagging economy at the expense of other Asian exporters and the US by weakening the yen.
BOJ considered aggressive easing in Feb-minutes
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan said on Apr 18 its Policy Board members had discussed a much more aggressive monetary easing at a February 28 policy meeting than the small rate cut they actually implemented.
Swiss mon policy during 1970s-lessons for Japan
CENTRAL BANK RESEARCH - Peter Kugler from Basel University and Georg Rich from the Swiss National Bank have published a paper "Monetary Policy Under Low Interest Rates: The Experience of Switzerland in the late 1970s". Using evidence from Switzerland's…
BoJ Hayami unsure about duration of deflation
JAPAN - Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said on Apr 17, 2001 he could not say how long it would take for the core nationwide consumer price index to rise to near zero percent, which the central bank has set as a condition for changing its current…
BOJ leaves monetary policy unchanged
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan's policy board voted unanimously to keep its current policy unchanged at its first two-day policy board meeting that ended Apr 13, 2001.
Stock mkt performance of the Belgium central bank
ARTICLE - Lawrence Goldberg from the University of Miami and Rezaul Kabir from University of Tilburg have written an article "The Stock Market Performance of the Central Bank of Belgium". The purpose of this paper is to examine the stock market valuation…