Pondering the futility of the Bank of Japan's inflation comfort zone

Members of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board are said to be at odds about where the rate of inflation ought to be over the medium to longer term.

In a scheduled meeting in late April, the nine member board reviewed what the BOJ calls its "understanding of medium- to long-term price stability." This is BOJ jargon for a numerical range for consumer price inflation that it deems compatible with the notion of price stability. This range has now been set at a year-on-year 0 to 2 percent, according to statements from BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui in a press conference earlier this month.

Yet according to records of that meeting, the policy board members are by no means united on where this inflation comfort zone ought to lie.