Deflation
Minutes of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting
MINUTES - Minutes of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting on 21 and 22 January 2003, released 19 February. One member pointed out that inflation targeting had never been adopted for the purpose of overcoming deflation by any central bank overseas,…
Koizumi puts off BOJ chief choice
The government has postponed the selection of the next Bank of Japan governor, fuelling speculation the prime minister has not found a ``deflation fighter'' who can rescue the economy.
Ex-BOJ Matsushima: need broad, combined policy
ARTICLE - Japan will succeed in ridding its economy of deflation only when the government and the Bank of Japan implement a coordinated, broad-based policy, according to an ex-BOJ senior official.
Kikuo Iwata: BOJ needs inflation target
INTERVIEW - The Bank of Japan should set a mild inflation target to defeat deflation, says Kikuo Iwata, a Gakushuin University professor, who believes that unless deflation is stopped, there can be no business revival nor fiscal reform.
The next BOJ governor
ARTICLE - The article sets out some of the qualities the next governor of the Bank of Japan must have and says he should be selected with an eye to the future. But the door should be left open to all qualified persons, including ex-bureaucrats as well as…
The folly of inflation targets
ARTICLE - This article says that the Bank of Japan should explain what it is intending to do to end deflation and that this will be the first step in defending its threatened independence.
Shiokawa puts deflation on center stage
Deflation is an issue for the entire government to tackle, Japan's Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday, reversing his earlier stance that the price declines of the last four years are the responsibility of the central bank.
Broaddus on the economic outlook for 2003
SPEECH - In the speech 'The Economic Outlook for 2003' Alfred Broaddus of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said he thought the Federal Reserve was unlikely to "run out of ammunition" as substantial levels of liquidity could still be introduced to the…
Pace of Japanese deflation steadies
Japanese goods fell on average by 2 per cent in 2002, as the country's three-year deflation run continues.
ECB must act now
ARTICLE - The article says the ECB must continue to ease interest rates soon to further boost the flagging eurozone economy as the possibility of deflation in Germany is a greater danger than inflation.
Takenaka says govt expectations of BOJ 'very high'
Japan's Financial Services and Economics Minister Heizo Takenaka said on Tuesday that the government is working hard to overcome deflation and its expectations for the Bank of Japan's policies are "very high".
Minutes show Fed worried over deflation
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates last month as extra insurance against deflation and the chance that the economy's stumble this summer could become something worse, according to Fed meeting minutes released on Thursday.
Stevens on Inflation, Deflation and All That
SPEECH - In the speech 'Inflation, Deflation and All That' Glenn Stevens of the Reserve Bank of Australia said the word 'deflation' carries too much emotive baggage and a 'deflation trap' would pose a bigger concern. Australia would be one of the last…
Issing on the euro after four years and deflation
SPEECH - In the speech 'The euro after four years: is there a risk of deflation?' Otmar Issing of the ECB said stagflation was a bigger threat to the euro zone than deflation. This he said, "deserves much more attention than the risk of deflation". In a…
Bean on the MPC the UK economy, deflation and debt
SPEECH - In the speech 'The MPC and the UK Economy: Should we fear the D-words?' Charles Bean of the Bank of England said that the recent alarmist talk of the threat of global deflation has been overdone. There are good reasons for believing that the US…
Korean central bank warns of deflation risk
The Korean nation had better be prepared in the event deflation should spring up, the Bank of Korea (BOK) has said. The bank fears a Japan style downward spiral of prices, but acknowledged the fear was low.
Deflation may be the real danger for central banks
ARTICLE - Deflation or inflation - could the central bank guns be facing in the wrong direction? This article suggests that rather than worry about inflation, the major central banks could instead be preparing for a battle against the opposite, deflation.
BOJ must set inflation target to prompt growth
ARTICLE - As the government's effort to end the bad-debt quandary is apparently shifting into a higher gear, concerns are growing that accelerated bad-loan write-offs could worsen, at least in the short term, the deflation that is sapping Japan's…
Japan faces fourth year of falling prices
JAPAN - Japan is on track to enter its fourth consecutive year of deflation - a phenomenon not seen in any postwar industrialised country - as the country's core consumer price index tumbled for the 36th consecutive month in September.
BOJ should create inflation to fight deflation
INTERVIEW - The best way to fight deflation is to create inflation, according to Kikuo Iwata, professor at Gakushuin University, who suggests the Bank of Japan set an inflation target of 1 to 3 percent for the next 12 months.
Through the looking glass into deflation
SPEECH - DeAnne Julius, a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, assesses the risk of global deflation as quite high in her keynote speech at The Banker Awards 2002 dinner.
America is not in danger of deflation
ARTICLE - For most of the postwar era, deflation has been off on the radar screen of economic policymakers in the industrialised world. The United States has not experienced a sustained fall in prices since the Great Depression. Fighting inflation, not…
Anti-deflation drive sparks BOJ fear over autonomy
ARTICLE - The central bank gets the jitters now that finance chief Takenaka takes up its challenge on economy. The Bank of Japan is worried that the government's latest campaign to stamp out deflation and buoy the economy will compromise its autonomy.
Article on Christopher Allsopp's speech
ARTICLE - The article 'Why deflation may yet destabilise the monetary policy regime' by Stephen King in the Independent newspaper on Monday looks at a recent speech by Bank of England MPC member Christopher Allsopp.