BOJ chief vows to keep monetary stimulus, nods to price momentum

investing.com:

By Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) — Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Thursday vowed to keep supporting the economy with ultra-loose monetary policy but signalled confidence inflation was gaining momentum, as markets look for clues on the next interest rate hike timing.

He also said the central bank would eventually scale back its huge balance sheet, signalling that the BOJ would move slowly but steadily towards normalising monetary policy.

His comments come after the BOJ on Tuesday ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy, in a historic shift away from the massive monetary stimulus of past decades.

«As we exit our massive stimulus programme, we will gradually shrink the size of our balance sheet and at some point reduce the size of our government bond buying,» Ueda said.

In his first appearance in parliament since the decision, Ueda was grilled by a lawmaker on whether the move was made too hastily and could derail Japan's fragile economic recovery.

«We could have waited until inflation is completely at 2% for a long period of time. But if we did so, it's unclear whether inflation would have stayed at 2%. We might have seen a sharp increase in upside price risks,» Ueda replied.

Continued rises in service prices, and big pay hikes offered by major firms in annual wage talks, confirmed that Japan was seeing a positive cycle of rising wages and inflation strengthen, he said.

But Japan's medium- and long-term inflation expectations are «still in the process of accelerating towards 2%,» Ueda said.

«As such, we will support the economy and prices by maintaining accommodative monetary conditions for the time being,» he said.

Expectations that the BOJ will