BOJ's Kuroda welcomes ECB easing, relaxed about expected Fed hikes

[TOKYO] Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday he is not worried that diverging monetary policies in the United States and Europe will complicate his efforts to beat deflation at home.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuroda welcomed the ECB's decision on Thursday to launch a bond-buying programme.

"I don't think it makes our job more difficult," Mr Kuroda said. Saying the euro has not fallen very much against the yen in the wake of the ECB move, he noted the European currency had already weakened a great deal over a long period.

He also said about the Federal Reserve's likely move to raise interest rates this year after it ended the US experiment with quantitative easing. This expected "normalisation" of policy reflects strong US growth, which is good for the world economy, Mr Kuroda said.

REUTERS