The Bank of Japan’s escalating presence in almost every corner of the nation’s financial markets threatens to further distort activity and complicate any future pulling back from stimulus.
The central bank’s growing pile of assets has now reached the equivalent of 137% of gross domestic product, according to a Bloomberg calculation based on official data.
In dollar terms, the tally of securities, loans and other assets is just 8% smaller than that of the Federal Reserve, even though the U.S. economy is four times bigger than Japan’s.