BOJ's Kuroda: Not thinking now about how to change BOJ's policy mix

By Stanley White and Minami Funakoshi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday he was not currently thinking about ways to change the BOJ's present policy mix.

Speaking at a lower house fiscal and monetary policy committee meeting, Kuroda affirmed yield curve control as the main focus of monetary policy.

Kuroda said that the amount of government debt purchases and the monetary base level in its policy statement were merely guidelines.

Kuroda's comments were echoed by a summary of opinions from the BOJ's most recent policy meeting, which showed one policymaker saw no need to change the central bank's 10-year yield target because it could flexibly raise and lower the amount of debt purchased.

 

"In theory, it is possible to combine the different elements of monetary policy in several ways," Kuroda told lawmakers in parliament.

"However, I'm not thinking about changing the policy mix right now."

At its most recent meeting on April 26-27, the BOJ maintained its short-term interest rate target at minus 0.1 percent and a pledge to guide 10-year government bond yields around zero percent.

It also maintained a loose pledge at the meeting to buy government bonds at a rate that would increase its holdings by 80 trillion yen a year.

Since then, the BOJ has said it will reduce its monthly government debt purchases in May, showing the central bank is stepping back from the 80 trillion yen target.

Prior to the meeting, some economists speculated that the BOJ could remove the 80 trillion yen figure from its statements because it was no longer the main lever of its policies.

(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Eric Meijer)