The balance of money circulating in Japan's economy reached ¥543 trillion in May, hitting a record high for the second straight month, as the central bank pumped more cash to cushion the blow to businesses and consumers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Armed with a raft of loan programs aimed at prodding commercial banks to boost lending to cash-strapped firms, the Bank of Japan is expected to keep expanding its balance sheet to ease the fallout from the health crisis, analysts say.
"Japan's economy will probably be in crisis-mode at least for the rest of this year. It would be very hard for the BOJ to slow the pace of money printing," said Mari Iwashita, chief market economist at Daiwa Securities.