Bank of Japan lowers inflation forecasts again

January 23, 2019: Japan's central bank again revised down its inflation forecasts on Wednesday, in the latest sign of its struggle to reach a long-sought two percent rate that officials consider key to boost the economy.

After a two-day meeting the policy board left its mammoth monetary easing programme in place, as expected, and lowered the inflation forecast for the fiscal year ending March next year to 0.9 percent from 1.4 percent.

It said the decision to revise down the forecast was guided in part by a decline in oil prices.

The revision in its quarterly report follows a previous downwards revision in late October. The bank had already dropped a 2020 target date for achieving the long-standing 2.0 percent rate.

The BoJ has struggled for years to reach its target and has defended its decision to maintain its monetary easing even as other central banks tighten policy.

It blames a "deflation mindset" caused by consumers and employers used to long periods of low growth and deflation.

The bank also slightly lowered the inflation forecast for the current fiscal year ending March 2019 to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent, and reduced the projection for the year ending March 2021 to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent.

Those figures do not factor in the effects of a consumption tax hike expected to go into effect in around October.

(APP)