TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Friday stressed the need to keep monetary policy ultra-loose to support the economy, in the wake of data showing the country’s consumer inflation rate hit a 40-year high.
“Uncertainty regarding Japan’s economy is extremely high. We also expect year-on-year growth in core consumer inflation to slow back below 2% next fiscal year,” Kuroda said in a semi-annual testimony to parliament.
“We’ll continue with our monetary easing to support the economy and achieve our 2% inflation target in a sustained, stable fashion backed by wage growth,” he said.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Christopher Cushing)