In the ten years since then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe introduced his “three arrows”—monetary policy easing, fiscal policy support and structural reform—for ensuring Japan’s economic recovery, Japan has struggled to find the right balance for achieving its goals. First, in 2013, the BOJ raised its inflation target from 1% to 2% to tackle chronic deflation—but this target proved tough to achieve. So, in January 2016, in a renewed attack on chronic deflation, the BOJ adopted a negative interest-rate policy (NIRP) by cutting its policy rate to ¬–0.10% and massively increasing the money supply by buying long-term Japanese ... (full story)