IMF backs Japan's monetary easing
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Tokyo - The International Monetary Fund on Friday endorsed the aggressive monetary easing measures taken by the Bank of Japan in April.
"The economic recovery is gaining traction, driven in large partby the adoption of the new Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQME) framework," the IMF said.
"The new policies have gotten off to a promising start. Growth in the first quarter of 2013 rebounded strongly, led by consumption and net exports." Japan's economy grew 3.5 per cent year-on-year in the January-to-March quarter, beating estimates.
The Washington-based IMF predicted that the world's third-largest economy would expand 1.6 per cent in 2013.
Japan has been plagued by the deflation that has lasted more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who took office in March, vowed to take aggressive monetary easing steps to achieve a target of 2-per-cent inflation.
"Complementary growth strategies and fiscal reforms are, however, essential to raise inflation in a durable manner. If these are successfully implemented, the mission estimates that the 2 per centinflation target could be achieved in the near to medium-term," theIMF said.//DPA
