BOJ 'not sounding a retreat from monetary easing'

Tokyo

MARKET speculation about a possible back-pedalling of aggressive monetary easing in Japan as fiscal policy comes to the fore was quashed on Thursday by Bank of Japan (BOJ) deputy governor Kikuo Iwata and the country's minister responsible for economic affairs, Nobutero Ishihara, as they both defended the central bank's policies.

Mr Iwata stressed that the comprehensive policy review which the BOJ has decided to undertake did not signal a change of direction by the central bank, while Mr Ishihara insisted that the BOJ's monetary policy "has not been wrong" even though the central bank has failed to reach its 2 per cent inflation target so far.