Mizuho Financial Group is holding off on buying government bonds as a sustained economic recovery may prompt the central bank to exit its negative interest rate policy early next year, a senior executive has said.
After decades spent trying to escape from deflation, the world's third-largest economy is now starting to see evidence of change, including glimpses of a virtuous circle where rising inflation lifts profits, wages and spending, Kenya Koshimizu, the co-head of Mizuho's global markets division, said.
His comments underscore how Mizuho and other top Japanese banks are now reckoning with a looming inflection point as Japan's economy approaches policy normalization after years of little growth, weak consumer spending and massive central bank easing.