TOKYO : Japan's outgoing finance minister, Taro Aso, said on Monday he had proposed lowering the central bank's 2per cent inflation target when prices took a hit from plunging oil prices from 2014 through to 2015.
"I proposed to Governor Kuroda that with oil prices falling this much, it would be hard to achieve 2per cent inflation, and that the target must be lowered at some point," Aso said in his final news conference as finance minister, referring to Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda. The remarks highlight how the government and lawmakers distanced themselves from the BOJ's target years ago, despite central bank reassurances that achieving the target was possible by maintaining or increasing stimulus.
After Kuroda took over as governor, he deployed a massive asset-buying programme in April 2013 to pull Japan out of deflation. But the wall of money and several additional easing steps since then have failed to push up inflation.
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