BOJ’s Kuroda Walks Back Remarks On Rising Inflation Tolerance

BOJ’s Kuroda Walks Back Remarks on Rising Inflation Tolerance

(Bloomberg) --

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda walked back some of his comments that consumers are now more willing to accept higher prices after criticism on social media and a grilling in parliament.

“I didn't necessarily say it in an appropriate way,” Kuroda said in a parliamentary hearing Tuesday, referring to his remarks the previous day that Japanese households' tolerance for price rises has been increasing.

Kuroda's remarks on Monday sparked an unusually large number of reactions and tweets for a central bank governor speech, with most of them negative in tone. Many of them argued that households weren't more accepting of higher price tags at all, rather they had no choice but to accept the rising costs of essential daily items.

This highlights how difficult it is for Kuroda to convey positive messages about inflation in a nation known for years of deflation. After more than a decade of falling price trends, households have become extra sensitive about a rise in the cost of living.

The yen breached the 132 mark against the dollar for the first time in more than two decades earlier Tuesday, with the currency's weakness set to further inflate the prices of imported goods and energy over the coming months.

Softness in the yen is likely to continue with the governor also reiterating his pledge to continue with monetary stimulus to achieve sustainable inflation. Investors are focusing on the widening gap in interest rates between the BOJ and the Federal Reserve and others.

Japan's wages adjusted for inflation dropped in April for the first time in four months, according to a government report earlier Tuesday, in a further indication that cost-push inflation is eating into the purchasing power of consumers.

Real wages are likely to remain under strong downward pressure as inflation is expected to hover around 2% this year mainly due to energy and commodity prices.

Some 82.1% of respondents said price increases were troublesome, while only 2.9% said they were favorable, according to a Bank of Japan survey in April.

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