No Laughing Matter for Kuroda With BOJ Near 40% of Bond Market
- Central bank continues to accumulate Japanese government debt
- Record buying of 10-year notes flags sustainability concern
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Governor Haruhiko Kuroda once chuckled that the Bank of Japan had only gobbled up half as much in government bonds as the Bank of England once did. It soon won’t be a laughing matter.
The BOJ holds more than 40 percent of Japanese government bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While its holdings of all Japanese sovereign securities -- including bonds and bills together -- are still shy of the yardstick that Kuroda mentioned with some levity in October 2014, the central bank’s stake continues to rise and rise.