A Bank of Japan board member said there’s uncertainty about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing policy, minutes from the bank’s policy- setting meeting showed.
One “member was of the view that the effects of the measure taken†by the Fed “were highly uncertain and growth in the U.S. economy was still likely to remain low for some time,†minutes from a Nov. 4-5 meeting released by the BOJ in Tokyo today said.
The BOJ board meeting was held after the Fed announced it would buy an additional $600 billion of Treasuries to support the world’s biggest economy. Regarding Japan’s expansion, BOJ members said they needed to continue to monitor the effect of the yen’s advance on exporters, with one person noting gross domestic product could contract this quarter.
“Many members said that careful attention should continue to be paid to the possibility that the appreciation of the yen might exert downward pressure on Japan’s economy by negatively affecting business and household sentiment,†the minutes said. “A few members expressed the opinion that careful attention should be paid to the economy’s vulnerability to downside risks, particularly when the pace of economic improvement remained slow.â€
