Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, who unleashed unprecedented monetary stimulus in 2013 and doubled down on it last year, is done expanding his efforts, according to an increasing number of economists.
Forty-four percent of respondents in a Nov. 13 to 17 Bloomberg poll do not expect the BOJ to boost its current pace of asset purchases — up from 33 percent last month. All 41 economists predicted no change at the BOJ's two-day Policy Board meeting that will end Thursday.
The results are in stark contrast to last month's survey when 44 percent of economists predicted that the BOJ will add to its already record stimulus on Oct. 30. Yet the shift does not stem from analysts thinking policy makers will succeed in achieving their delayed target of October 2016 to March 2017 for 2 percent inflation.