Kazumasa Iwata Joins Kuroda Naysayers as BOJ to Meet: Economy

Former Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kazumasa Iwata, an advocate of expanded stimulus, joined economists predicting the bank’s new chief Haruhiko Kuroda will fail to meet his deadline for a price target.

“It’s impossible to achieve 2 percent inflation in two years,” Iwata, 66, president of the Japan Center for Economic Research, said in an interview yesterday. Even five years won’t be easy, he said, as the economy is expected to weaken following a planned sales tax rise.