After Nearly 30 Years of QE, Japan’s Kuroda Says He Has Even MOAR Tools

“Japan is your future”. These words were uttered to me back in 2009, at the Four Seasons restaurant, when I was wooing Scott Bleier to write for the site. At the time, I didn’t give it much thought. With the benefit of hindsight, he was exactly right.

Japanese QE has resulted in sharply lower equity markets, but relatively decent unemployment numbers for the past 30 years. It is stagnation, personified.

Without QE, Godzilla would’ve eaten Tokyo a long time ago. But, it’s worth noting, there isn’t anything exciting about 250% debt to GDP either and Japan’s fate has never looked more doomful.

That being said, Japan’s BOJ Chief, Kuroda, says he’s gonna a lotta more for you NIKKEI haters. Lots of moar tools in his tool bag.

“Even within the current framework, there is ample room for further monetary easing … and other new ideas should not be off the table,” Kuroda said in a seminar.

“There may be a situation where drastic measures are warranted even though they could entail costs,” he said. “The central bank should always prepare policy options to address such situations.”

Kuroda said he does not share a growing market view that monetary policy has reached its limit, saying that the key would be to weigh the costs and benefits of each policy option.

“There is no free lunch for any policy,” he said. “That said, we should not hesitate to go ahead with (additional easing) as long as it is necessary for Japan’s economy as a whole.”

One has to presume this could go on indefinitely. I see no reason to suggest otherwise.

Note: Japanese QE has resulted in massive manipulation of their markets, also acceptable practice today.