Economists See More Chance of Near-Term BOJ Change Than Markets

Economists appear to see a greater possibility of the Bank of Japan adjusting policy in the near-term than many market players in a reversal of the status quo of the past year when speculators betted heavily on the central bank joining a global wave of policy tightening.

Around two-thirds of economists said they expected the central bank to tighten policy by July in an April survey by Bloomberg. While many of those calls have been pushed back since then, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas are among those expecting a policy tweak next month.