Japan
Japan loosens monetary policy
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has decided to make borrowing money cheaper as the weight of huge bad debts and sliding prices continues to cripple the country's domestic economy.
Warning by IMF puts BoJ under pressure
JAPAN - Pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease monetary policy at its two-day meeting that starts today has been increased considerably by the International Monetary Fund's reversal of an earlier growth forecast and its warning that Japan would enter a…
LDP Yamamoto - Won't keep axe over BOJ gov head
JAPAN - Pumping up the pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease credit further to halt deflation, a leading ruling party critic of the central bank has moved a step closer to taking the BOJ Law into his own hands.
Japanese regulator punishes Citibank
JAPAN - The Japanese branch of Citibank, a part of Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company, has been punished by Japan's financial services agency, the country's chief financial regulator, for illegally helping clients to conceal losses.
Japan profits on yen interventions
JAPAN - The Japanese government has made a profit of about YEN 6,000bn ($49bn) on its foreign exchange reserves during the last decade, partly due to heavy bouts of intervention, a former Ministry of Finance official has said.
Politician says Koizumi agrees to ask BOJ to ease
JAPAN - Senior ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Hideyuki Aizawa said 1 August he and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed on the need to call for the Bank of Japan to ease further.
BoJ urges move on measurement of bad loans
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has discreetly urged the Financial Supervisory Agency, the main regulator in Japan, to develop better methods for measuring questionable bank loans, writes the Financial Times in London, 19 July.
No change in Japan gov't economic assessment
JAPAN - Vice Finance Minister Toshiro Muto said on 16 July that the government stands by its assessment of Japan's economy although the Bank of Japan (BOJ) slightly downgraded its economic assessment in its latest monthly report on economic and financial…
Takenaka 'not dissatisfied' with BOJ's decision
JAPAN - Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, said 13 July he is "not dissatisfied" with the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) decision to keep monetary policy unchanged.
Speech by Yutaka Yamaguchi Dep Gov Bank of Japan
SPEECH - Yutaka Yamaguchi, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan, gave a speech at the Edinburgh Finance & Investment Seminar, on 22 June. The speech was published on 9 July.
MOF denies asking BOJ to use inflation targets
JAPAN - Japanese Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on 29 June played down a media report that government representatives at the Bank of Japan policy board meeting yesterday, 28 June, had put a strong request to the central bank to introduce an inflation…
Regulator unveils Japan bank stock buying fund
JAPAN - Japan's top financial regulator on 26 June unveiled plans for a fund to soak up massive amounts of shares owned by banks to cut their exposure to an uncertain stock market, giving Japan's economic reforms a nudge forward.
Bank of Japan Monthly Report June 2001
RESEARCH - The Bank of Japan has produced its Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments for June 2001.
Bank of Japan makes policy board appointment
JAPAN - Shin Nakahara has been appointed to the policy board of the Bank of Japan. He succeeds Susumu Taketomi whose term has ended. Nakahara was deputy president of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
BOJ board keeps monetary policy unchanged
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its already super-loose policy unchanged on 15 June, resisting political pressure for even more monetary firepower to stop the economy from deteriorating further.
No plan to change Japanese growth outlook
JAPAN - Japanese Minister of Finance Masajuro Shiokawa said on 13 June that at present, he is not considering revising the government's projection of 1.7 percent economic growth for fiscal year 2001, ending in March 2002.
Bank of Japan research paper - zero interest rates
RESEARCH - The Bank of Japan has published a research paper 'Monetary Policy Under the Zero Interest Rate Constraint and Balance Sheet Adjustment'. The paper is written by Masaaki Shirakawa, advisor to the governor, Bank of 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.