MNI BoJ Review - April 2021: Steady As She Goes

• The latest BoJ monetary policy decision held no surprises, with the Bank's headline monetary policy settings and forward guidance maintained, while the immediate CPI outlook was shifted lower alongside an uptick in its GDP forecasts.
• The Bank stressed that the risks to inflation are skewed to the downside, while the risks to economic activity are deemed to be more balanced over the medium term but hold a downward skew in the immediate term.
• Kataoka provided the usual dovish source of dissent, via his well-trodden channels, while well-known reflationist and newcomer to the BoJ board, Asahi Noguchi, voted in line with the well-defined majority.
• The decision and the tweaks to the Bank's economic forecasts were in line with wider expectations, with the market viewing the BoJ's arsenal as virtually fully depleted, with no sign of the Bank being able to get inflation anywhere near target, even as it pledges to main ultra-loose monetary policy settings for the foreseeable future.

Please use the following link to access the full review:

BOJ Review Apr 2021.pdf