MNI BRIEF: BOJ Board Member Sees Balanced Risks in FY22

A Bank of Japan board expects the risks to economic activity to be be balanced over fiscal 2022, according to the minutes from the central bank's April 26-27 policy meeting released today.

The minutes showed: "Members agreed that, with economic measures conducted particularly in advanced economies, such as those in response to the impact of COVID-19, the pace of recovery in domestic and overseas economies could be faster than expected."

"One member noted that the economy could be pushed up significantly after COVID-19 subsided, mainly due to the materialization of pent-up demand in consumption," the minutes showed.

A different member said that "risks to economic activity were likely to be balanced for the middle of the projection period onward, taking into account the possibility that the global economy as a whole would register higher growth than expected, due to aggressive macroeconomic policies taken in each economy, and consumption would see a large rebound."

Another member warned, "if firms' efforts toward growth and reform were postponed in reflection of a recovery in business performance, medium- to long-term economic growth and achievement of the price stability target might 20 be adversely affected."

A different member, "expressed concern over the possibility that a vague sense of uneasiness about the future as well as anxiety about future tax increases against the background of deterioration in the fiscal balance would constrain improvement in consumer sentiment."