Weekend Economists Be Mother May 8-10, 2015

[Demeter]

6. Japan's April monetary base rises 35.6% to another record

FUNNY MONEY--TOO MUCH OF IT

Japan's monetary base stood at a record 305.88 trillion yen ($2.56 trillion) at the end of April, up 35.6 percent from a year earlier, as the Bank of Japan continued to provide more liquidity to raise the inflation rate to its targeted 2 percent, BOJ data showed Thursday.

The monetary base reached an all-time high for the ninth straight month and topped the 300 trillion yen line for the first time. The central bank took additional monetary easing steps last October to raise the pace of supplying funds.

The balance of financial institutions' current account deposits at the BOJ, the biggest part of the monetary base, came to 210.22 trillion yen, up 57.1 percent.

Under the stimulus measures, the BOJ aims to boost the monetary base at an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen, up from 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen under its previous policy.

The BOJ has been trying to get rid of lingering deflationary pressure on the economy with its drastic quantitative easing.

But lower crude oil prices and a slow economic recovery following the 3-percentage-point consumption tax hike to 8 percent in April 2014 have prompted the BOJ to delay the timing of reaching the inflation goal.

The central bank now says it is expecting to achieve the price hike goal around the first half of fiscal 2016, starting next April. It earlier forecast hitting the target during a period centering on the current fiscal 2015.