Govt, BOJ Urged to Set 2 Pct Inflation as Long-Term Goal

Tokyo, Jan. 30 (Jiji Press)--A panel of experts Monday urged the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan to adopt a new joint statement setting 2 pct inflation as a long-term goal.

On their current joint statement issued in January 2013, which includes the 2 pct target, the panel, Reinventing Infrastructure of Wisdom and Action, dubbed Reiwa Rincho, said in its emergency proposal that the government and the central bank have not produced results.

Specifically, the panel said that the BOJ failed to attain 2 pct inflation within two years as initially sought by the bank, and the government could not realize sustainable economic growth through raising the country's potential growth rate.

After examining the results of policy measures taken over the past 10 years, the government and the BOJ should draw up and release a new joint statement so that they can implement more effective measures through cooperation, the proposal said.

The panel called on the government and the BOJ to "restore the function of interest rates and normalize the Japanese government bond market within a certain time frame."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]