All lights are green for BOJ now

HAVING built up a powerful head of steam, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) locomotive continues to charge ahead towards its goal of ridding Japan of deflation and achieving a 2 per cent inflation target. Could it end up in a "train crash" or is there more method than madness behind this dash for growth?

No one seems to have a convincing answer, and BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda appears to be more adept at public shows of determination to reach his destination than at explaining precisely how he is going to get there.

On Oct 31, four of the BOJ Policy Board's nine members went so far as to try to deny the seemingly unstoppable governor the wherewithal he was demanding to further boost the bank's quantitative easing (QE). But despite their protests, he stoked the fire and rushed on.