TOKYO: Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated on Thursday that the central bank needs to continue with its monetary easing programme in order to support a fragile economy.

The Japanese central bank remains an outlier among global advanced economy peers in normalising monetary policy, with inflation still weak and the post-COVID economic recovery far from assured.

“We are aiming to achieve the price stability target, involving wage hikes,” Kuroda told a parliament session.

“It may take a long time though.” Speaking at the same parliament session later, BOJ executive director Shinichi Uchida said it was too early to explain the exit strategy from massive monetary stimulus.

“When exiting, the point will be adjusting long-term and short-term policy rates and the BOJ’s balance sheet,” Uchida said.

BOJ’s Kuroda lays out key debating points on future exit from easy policy

“The order and mixture of those factors would differ depending on economy, prices and financial situations at the time.” Uchida added that the BOJ won’t rule out prioritising raising policy interest rates.