Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday that, unlike in the US and Europe, we have to continue extremely accommodative monetary policy for the time being. The pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the Japanese economy, he added, saying that Japan's economy may come under strong downward pressure due to rising Omicron variant cases. Kurodo continued that the BoJ is not afraid of inflation because it is so low, whilst maintaining that the bank is determined to achieve 2.0% inflation as soon as possible. 

Market Reaction

The yen did not react to Kuroda's characteristically dovish comments.