BOJ 'no longer setting deadline for inflation target'

Sapporo

BANK of Japan board member Yukitoshi Funo said the central bank no longer has a binding timeframe for meeting its ambitious inflation target, conceding the bank has essentially abandoned an earlier pledge to meet the goal in roughly two years.

With inflation still flatlining despite years of massive stimulus measures, the BOJ has already postponed the target timeframe six times since setting it in 2013, most recently at a board meeting last month, pushing it back to 2019/20.

BOJ officials, including governor Haruhiko Kuroda, have tempered their commitment to meet the goal within a set timeframe since revamping the bank's policy framework last year to one more suited for a long-term battle aga…