Market participants have started to prod the Bank of Japan to take action as the world's third-largest economy is certain to suffer serious setbacks amid the coronavirus outbreak.
But the central bank is likely to struggle to map out effective steps to grapple with the adverse effects of the novel virus's spread after years of drastic monetary easing that has failed to bolster the economy and achieve its goal of 2 percent inflation.
With fears escalating about a global pandemic, financial markets are reeling. On Monday, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average plummeted over 1,000 points, or more than 5 percent, and the dollar briefly fell to its lowest level since November 2016 against the safe-haven yen.