BOJ may need to consider fresh options

Tokyo

BANK of Japan (BOJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that central bankers around the world have no shortage of tools to address deflation risks and that in Japan, policymakers may need to look at fresh options if further stimulus is needed.

"If, really, our possible path to 2 per cent inflation is significantly affected, then of course we can make adjustment to our monetary policy," Mr Kuroda said in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday. Asked whether the BOJ will have to get more creative, he said "yes, I think so". He declined to specify the options available.

Mr Kuroda, 70, spoke days after the BOJ cut its inflation projection for the coming fiscal year, a move that reinforced forecasts for further stimulus by October. While Mr Kuroda's unprecedented scale of asset purchases has pulled the world's third-largest economy out of 15 years o…