Japan
Japan's puzzle - Rock bottom rates, few borrowers
ARTICLE - HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - Why does Japan's economy, despite phenomenally low interest rates, keep wasting away? The answer begins in a vegetable garden near here.
Japan toughens stance on Pakistan debt
JAPAN - Japan has said it is unlikely to ease Pakistan's debt burden any further unless the Islamabad government agrees to ban nuclear weapons tests.
Bank of Japan Minutes
MINUTES - Bank of Japan, Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting on 18 September.
BOJ: Don't plan to weaken Yen by intervention
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has no plan to intervene in currency markets to weaken the yen as a way to ease Japan's debilitating deflationary conditions, a senior BOJ official said Wednesday.
Shock rise in Japanese jobless
JAPAN - Unemployment in Japan rose to 5.3% in September, another record high.
Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting
REPORT - Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting, 29 October. Outlook and Risk Assessment of the Economy and Prices (October 2001).
Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting
REPORT - Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting, 29 October. Announcement of the Monetary Policy Meeting decisions (unchanged).
Bank of Japan warns of recession
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has acknowledged the world's second largest economy will shrink this year by cutting a growth forecast for 2001 that many economists have long viewed as unrealistic.
Japanese output slumps
JAPANESE - Industrial production in the world's second largest economy slumped by a worse-than-expected 2.9% in September following last month's attacks on the US.
Japan in new territory after two years deflation
JAPAN - The Japanese government admitted Friday that the country had notched up two entire years of deflation - a phenomenon not seen since the second world war in an industrialised country and only rarely experienced in history.
Bank of Japan - Annual Report 2001
ANNUAL REPORT - The Bank of Japan has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2001.
NIESR report - UK to avoid slide into recession
UK - The UK will weather a sharp global slowdown and there is no reason to cut interest rates further, according to a leading think-tank.
Speech by Yutaka Yamaguchi of the Bank of Japan
SPEECH - Remarks by Yutaka Yamaguchi, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan, at the JCIF International Finance Seminar on 17 October.
BOJ Mitani: Econ close to deflationary spiral
JAPAN - Many companies in Western Japan think the economy is on the verge of a deflationary spiral, the manager of the Bank of Japan's Osaka branch said Monday.
Japan Yanagisawa: Ratios to weather NPL write-offs
JAPAN - Japan's top financial regulator Hakuo Yangisawa said Monday banks will likely be able to keep their capital adequacy ratios above 8% even if they write off their non-performing loans.
Hayami says Greenspan against inflation targeting
JAPAN - Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said on Thursday U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan had told him the U.S. central bank chief was opposed to the idea of setting an inflation target for central banks.
Japanese policy makers clash over economy
JAPAN - Japanese policy makers are increasingly clashing on how to fix the nation's moribund economy, with the finance minister issuing a clear call for re-inflating the economy by actively boosting price levels, even as the central bank decided not to…
Bank of Japan Monthly Economic Report
MONTHLY REPORT - The Bank of Japan today published its regular Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments, October 2001.
Bank of Japan issues grim outlook
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan, as widely expected, downgraded its assessment of the economy, citing a continued tumble in output and exports, deteriorating job and income conditions, and an increasingly bleak economic outlook following the 11 September…
Japan's central bank warns on economy
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has warned that the country's economy is facing "more severe" adjustments, with the "terrorist attacks in the US... further [heightening] uncertainty".
Japan's policy board keep monetary policy same
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan's policy board voted Friday 12 October to keep monetary policy unchanged, brushing aside mounting domestic and international pressure for the BOJ to flood the banking system with more cash to help support the sagging economy.
BOJ should take untraditional measures - Takenaka
JAPAN - Conventional liquidity provisions aren't enough and the Bank of Japan should consider untraditional steps to deal with Japan's economic woes, economy minister Heizo Takenaka said Friday.
BoJ fund draining casts doubt over prospects
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has withdrawn much of the extra money that it pumped into the Japanese economy in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks, casting further doubts over the country's dismal growth outlook.
Bank of Japan warns on loosening monetary policy
JAPAN - Masaru Hayami, governor of the Bank of Japan, warned yesterday that loosening monetary policy could trigger hyperinflation, highlighting the growing gap between the Bank of Japan's thinking and that of the government and many private sector…