According to the latest Reuters poll, nearly half of the economists surveyed believe that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) may unwind its ultra-loose monetary policy between March and October next year.

Additional takeaways

“Of 26 economists polled, 11 expect the central bank will unwind its ultra-loose policy between March and October.”

“Half, or 13, said the BOJ wouldn't scale back until 2024 or later and two still expect the next move to be more easing of policy.”

“The most common means tipped by analysts for the BOJ to unwind stimulus would be a tweak to its forward guidance, according to 15 respondents. “

“Widening the long-term yield cap range from 0.25% was chosen by nine while seven opted for raising the 10-year yield target from 0%.”

“Japan's annualized growth projection was upgraded to 3.3% for the current quarter but downgraded to 0.8% for January-March.”

“Analysts slightly raised Japan's inflation forecasts for each quarter up to April-June 2023, with core consumer prices now expected to increase 2.8% in the current fiscal year and 1.8% in fiscal 2023, respectively.”

This comes a day ahead of the BoJ monetary policy announcements on Tuesday.