Japan may be on route for a 'soft' form of helicopter money

Tokyo

JAPANESE policymakers, who won't go as far as funding government spending through direct debt monetisation, might pursue a mix of aggressive fiscal and monetary expansion to battle deflation, say sources familiar with the matter.

In the past week, Japanese markets have seen hyped-up speculation that the government will resort to using what's called "helicopter money", where a central bank directly finances budget stimulus through programmes such as perpetual bonds.