Japan Finance Minister: Worried About Recent Price Falls
TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii on Friday
expressed concerns about recent price falls and said that the government will
closely monitor price moves.
"Regardless of whether we call it deflation or not, the recent price falls are
not right and worrisome. This is one of the major policy issues right now,"
Fujii told a regular press conference.
Fujii's remarks come amid growing expectations that the government will
declare that Japan is now in a deflationary state for the first time in more
than three years in its monthly economic report.
While some market players interpret the would-be declaration as government
pressure on the Bank of Japan to consider more easing steps in the future as
needed, the finance minister refrained from showing his clear position, merely
noting that the BOJ's current policy is already very accommodative.
Fujii also downplayed the role of fiscal policy in preventing deflation,
saying that big public works spending "won't help raise prices."
-By Takeshi Takeuchi, Dow Jones Newswires;813-6895-7550; Takeshi.Takeuchi@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-19-092012ET
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