Apathy and anticlimax are what a central bank aspires to when the time comes for a momentous policy decision. By this measure, the Bank of Japan’s return to positive interest rates was a triumph — with high rates elsewhere, and governor Kazuo Ueda taking a year to reach this well-flagged decision, his 0.1 percentage point rise in Japanese interest rates sent no shockwaves. The yen barely twitched. It is still close to the ¥150 lows against the dollar it found when US rates began to climb in 2022.
So does this mean Japanese monetary policy, which for a generation has led the world into exotic innovations such as zero interest rates, quantitative easing and yield curve control, will be boring from now on? Perhaps for a little while, but a little while only. All of Japan’s big structural challenges — ageing, population decline, sluggish consumption, high public debt and low economic growth rates — remain the same. As a result, it is not clear if there is any stable equilibrium where Japan chugs along with consistently positive interest rates and inflation at its 2 per cent target. The BoJ has signed an armistice with unconventional monetary policy, not a peace treaty.
In its decision, the central bank proudly notes the prospect “that the price stability target of 2 per cent would be achieved in a sustainable and stable manner”. But it recognises that this success is precarious and may not endure.