The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will likely maintain its yield curve control (YCC) policy until at least next year, three quarters of economists polled by Reuters said, as expectations for a near-term policy shift by new governor Kazuo Ueda subside.
At his first policy meeting in April, Ueda kept the central bank’s ultra-low rates unchanged citing a lack of confidence about the outlook for its 2% inflation target’s achievement and announced a “broad-perspective review” of past policies.
In the poll, however, more than half of the analysts expected the BOJ to start unwinding its easing scheme by end-July, with measures such as widening the yield cap or shortening the target maturity to mitigate YCC’s side-effects.
Only six of 24 economists, or 25%, said the BOJ will end YCC this year, the May 17-24 poll showed, much lower than 56% in an April poll. Five (21%) projected it to happen in the first half of 2024, six (25%) opted for the latter half of 2024 and another five chose “2025 or later”.
Read More : Bank of Japan Expected to Maintain Yield Curve Control until 2024, According to Reuters Survey