One of the Bank of Japan’s leading advocates for unwinding monetary stimulus indicated the central bank might attain its long sought-after goal of reaching 2% inflation on a stable basis by early next year.
"The achievement is finally and clearly within sight after a decade of large-scale monetary easing aimed at attaining it,” Naoki Tamura, the board member, said in a speech to local business leaders in Kushiro, Hokkaido, on Wednesday.
Tamura said he hopes to have "a higher resolution of the picture around January to March next year,” with more momentum toward salary gains coming in the next round of spring wage talks, hinting that officials might be able to confirm at that time they’ve hit the goal needed to usher in policy change.