Ayear after taking the helm of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda appears to be on course to achieve the targets he set in the quest to end Japan's protracted deflation and put the economy on a growth path.
Consumer prices — which were still falling when he became BOJ governor in March last year — marked a 1.3 percent year-on-year rise in January, and Kuroda says he is confident the prices are on track toward his goal of 2 percent inflation within two years, excluding the effects of the consumption tax hike in April.
Market sentiments changed a year ago when the new BOJ governor, picked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, introduced aggressive monetary easing measures, pledging to double the nation's monetary base — the amount of money the central bank supplies in its money market operations — in two years, mainly through the massive purchases of government bonds.