Japan In The Front View Mirror

This week the Japanese economy has suddenly become the centre of everyone's attention, and just today we have the news that the Bank of Japan has finally bitten the bullet, and gone for a further 0.25% increase in its overnight lending rate. However I cannot help having the unfortunate feeling that everyone is so busy eagerly looking forward (to the recovery, the end of the carry trade, or

Central Bankers and Political Pressures

Sorry I've been away for a while: too much work chasing too little time.Now this interview in the FT today with Barney Frank, Democratic chairman of the House financial services committee, is reasonably interesting. Frank is worried about any possible decision by the Federal Reserve, following the lead of Ben Bernanke, to introduce inflation targeting as policy:In an interview, Mr Frank told the

Japan: To Raise or Not to Raise, That is the Question

Well in some ways this is an interesting week in Japan. The Boj has to take a decision on whether or not to raise interest rates. As Claus Vistesen says in an aptly titled post, this is just too close to call. Nonetheless I will stick my neck out just a little, I don't think they will raise, but I wouldn't attach a very high level of certainty to this, since there are a lot of pressures in both

Export Dominated Growth In Germany and Japan

Well it is now more or less official, growth in the fourth quarter was largely a story of strong export performance in both Germany and Japan. Domestic consumption remained congenitally weak in both cases.In Germany, as Bloomberg reports:Booming exports drove an unexpected acceleration in German economic growth in the fourth quarter, capping the best year for Europe's largest economy since 2000.

BoJ: No Hurry To Raise Rates

Bank of Japan policy board member Hidehiko Haru has underlined what most Bonobo readers should already know, that internal consumption in Japan is week and that there's no threat that rising prices will cripple economic growth. Conclusion: there's no hurry to raise rates:``Given that there's no evidence of any inflationary risk, there's no need to rush,'' Haru, 69, said today in a speech to

G7: Why All the Pressure on Japan?

The Group of Seven industrialized nations is meeting in Essen, Germany, later this week, and despite the fact that there are a lot of people trying hard to suggest otherwise, it appears that the topic of global liquidity will be high on the agenda.Now what I think it is interesting for people to think about is why this is. Why does the yen loom so large in people's thoughts (even though there is

No signs of Inflation in Japan

by Claus Vistesen In this note, I will adopt a two-pronged approach. Firstly, I will do a round-up of the domestic scene in Japan and more specifically the inflation outlook as well as the subsequent outlook for a possible interest rate hike by the BOJ come February or March. Secondly, I will take a look at the international perspective on Japan, where there has been a recent flurry of