Bank of Japan To Stick In Negative Interest Rate Policy, Reversion Likely In April

Bank of Japan (BOJ) is unlikely to bring any major change in its latest monetary policy keeping promise of raising the monetary base by ¥80 trillion on an annual basis. The Japanese central bank also intends to keep applying negative rate of -0.1% in its upcoming monetary policy meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister has distanced himself from the BOJ decision which has been proved unpopular with the public. Some officials close to the premier observe the distance as consequence of rift in relationship with BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. The Japanese central bank governor has apparently failed to lift Japan clear of two decades of deflation and stagnation through his radical stimulus measures, reports Reuters.

A government press relations officer has out-righted existence of such rift quoting chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga. A BOJ spokesman has declined to make comment. However, a poor reaction to the bank's negative interest rate policy (NIRP) is expected to force the central bank to ease policy further most likely at the bank's next policy meeting in late April, reports Business Insider quoting Izumi Devalier, an economist at HSBC.

Through adopting NIRP in January, BOJ has aimed to pressurize financial institutions in lending or investing more rather than keeping the BOJ deposits. The move has been expected to boost the economy and allow yean to decline further. But NIRP has erased the revenues and profits earned by financial institutions on deposits in the current account which urges them to abstain from investing or lending, according to a report published in Econo Times.

The disappointing return from the market shocking policy is believed to leave little option but to revert to drip feed easing. Considering the confusion caused by the January move, BOJ won't be able to cut rate further, at least for the time being, cites Hideo Kumano, a former BOJ official, currently the chief economist for Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

Instead, he has suggested BOJ to expand asset purchases through small installments. This may bring back the incremental approach.

Kuroda has delighted markets and silenced opponents through deploying a massive money printing program in April 2013, naming Quantitative and Qualitative Easing (QQE). In consequences, Tokyo stock market has been witnessed to soar while tumbling of yen has offered exporters a boost. QQE has also enabled Japanese growth and inflation to register a pulse.

The expansion of QQE, adopted in October 2014, has caused little boost to the market and Japanese economy has reportedly taken a step back for every forward step. However, the late January move has failed to reverse a rise in risk-aversion which has been hitting stocks and forcing the yen to appreciate value. But prior to that move, yen has been considered as a safe heaven for investment since long.

BOJ governor has apparently failed to lift up Japanese economy through his massive stimulus measures. Though the adopted policy has brought huge criticisms, but analysts don't presume for any major change in the monetary policy. However, Kuroda has been forecast to revert from NIRP during monetary committee's next meeting in April.