Takenaka Says BOJ, Government Should Boost Money Supply Growth
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Japan and the government should work together to increase money supply growth and put an end to more than six years of falling consumer prices, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Heizo Takenaka said.
``It's necessary to increase money supply to end deflation,'' Takenaka told reporters in Tokyo. ``If you consider the potential rates of growth in real terms and future gains in prices,'' money supply should expand faster, Takenaka said in response to a question. Money supply levels are ``up to the BOJ to decide.''
M2 plus CDs, the main measure of money supply, rose 2 percent from a year earlier in January, the Bank of Japan said in a report earlier today. The pace of growth has been unchanged for five straight months.
M2 plus CDs, which tracks bank savings, cash in circulation and certificates of deposit, grew at an annualized 4.4 percent pace, the central bank said.
Bank lending fell 3 percent in January from a year earlier, the smallest decline in more than six years, the Bank of Japan figures also showed today.
Bank lending had the smallest decline since September 1998, when it fell 2.7 percent, according to Bloomberg data. Lending hasn't risen since September 1996. |
