BOJ holds more than 40% of Japanese govt bonds

Tokyo

GOVERNOR Haruhiko Kuroda once chuckled that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) had only gobbled up half as much in government bonds as the Bank of England once did. It soon won't be a laughing matter.

The BOJ holds more than 40 per cent of Japanese government bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While its holdings of all Japanese sovereign securities - including bonds and bills together - are still shy of the yardstick that Mr Kuroda mentioned with some levity in October 2014, the central bank's stake continues to rise and rise.

There are no signs of that expansion stopping or slowing anytime soon, even as the central bank's need t…