Bank of Japan watchers are increasingly expecting the bank to achieve its inflation target, with a growing majority forecasting authorities will end the world’s last negative rate regime by April, according to a survey.
More than two-thirds of polled economists see the BOJ scrapping its negative rate by April, with half of the 52 respondents saying it will happen that month. In the previous survey in October, 29% saw the move coming in April.
The results come in a week where financial markets were jolted by the prospect of an even earlier end to sub-zero borrowing costs as traders reacted to comments from BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda and one of his deputies. Amid hints they could be preparing for a policy shift, Japanese bond yields surged by the most in a year and the yen strengthened almost 4%.