Central Banks
BOJ’s Kuroda Leaves $11.7 Trillion ‘Shock and Awe’ Experiment to His Successor
- Stimulus splurge won plaudits abroad, split opinion at home
- Towering asset pile casts shadow over any exit path under Ueda
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Within weeks of taking office a decade ago, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda fired his “shock and awe” stimulus targeting a return to steady 2% inflation in around two years. As his tenure ends, the original “time horizon” remains largely that — something within sight but out of reach.
Through 10 years of experimental policy that rewrote the rules of global central banking, Kuroda’s BOJ forked out 1.55 quadrillion yen ($11.7 trillion) on bonds, stock funds and corporate debt.