Bank of Japan governor rejects criticism against monetary policy

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - While criticism has risen against the Bank of Japan by the government due to the increasing losses of the Japanese yen against the US dollar in recent days, the bank rejects the allegations.

According to Kyodo News, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government expects the bank's monetary policy to take into consideration various factors.

"If foreign exchange rates move (excessively) we will have to coordinate closely with the BOJ and consider appropriate steps."

Takeshi Shina, a lawmaker of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said: "The government and the BOJ were moving in opposite directions."

The bank has been insisting on ultra-loose monetary policy for a long time, despite other major central banks' hawkish interest rate hikes since last December.

To protect the Japanese yen's value against the US dollar, the bank has intervened in the market a couple of times but the parity continues to drop, nearing 150 level.

Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the bank, asserted that the US dollar has been gaining strength not only against the Japanese yen, but all major currencies and added that the strength of the US dollar will not continue.

In response to Shina, he said: "Your claim that our qualitative and quantitative easing has been an utter failure goes against the facts, I have no intention of stepping down."

Meanwhile, the number of corporate bankruptcies in the country increased by 6.9% in the third quarter, which is the first increase for the last three years.