BOJ Only Partway to Becoming a “Normal Central Bank,” with Costs of Unprecedented Easing Still Remaining

The Bank of Japan announced that inflation excluding temporary factors had reached its 2% target. Thirteen years after the target was introduced, the return of inflation is seen as bringing Japan's economic policy management to a turning point.

The BOJ set its 2% price target in January 2013, when the economy was suffering from a strong sense of stagnation caused by a strong yen and deflation.

Following the achievement, a senior BOJ official said, 'At last, we can conduct normal monetary policy,' drawing attention to how policy will be managed going forward.