Never Has BOJ Done So Much for So Little Benefit
- Fitch says monetary policy ‘starting to run out of road a bit’
- Yen has risen while stocks, exports fall, lending growth slows
Bank of Japan Haunted by Diminishing Returns
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Never before has the Bank of Japan done so much to achieve so little.
Even after arranging a record stimulus program and reducing a key interest rate to less than zero, the central bank has failed to boost inflation to its goal of 2 percent. Stocks are little changed from where they were in October 2014 when Governor Haruhiko Kuroda expanded his package of asset purchases. Exports are declining. One measure of bank lending is at a 14-year high, though loan growth is slowing compared with a year ago. While most sovereign bond yields have turned negative, corporate borrowing costs are lagging behind.