Government debt twice the size of the economy will make exiting stimulus a nightmare for Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, according to the nation's former top currency official.
Makoto Utsumi, who oversaw foreign-exchange policy at the Finance Ministry from 1989 to 1991, said the central bank's of its balance sheet into debt with an average remaining maturity of up to 10 years made it impossible for Kuroda to pare stimulus "for the foreseeable future" without causing bond yields to surge.
Speculation that the BOJ will accelerate its note purchases helped cut 10-year yields to a three-week low of 0.3 percent on Friday.