IMF lifts Japan's growth, price outlooks as recovery rolls along

TOKYO, Oct 10 (Bloomberg) - The International Monetary Fund raised its forecasts for Japan’s growth and price gains, projecting that inflation in the world’s third largest economy will run much hotter than the Bank of Japan’s target over the next year.

The economy is forecast to grow 2% this year, an upward revision of 0.6 percentage point from July, thanks to pent-up consumption, a surge in inbound tourism and a rebound in auto exports, according to the World Economic Outlook that the IMF released on Tuesday. The IMF also sees Japan’s consumer prices rising by 3.2% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024, compared with 2.7% and 2.2%, respectively, forecast in April.

Those projections lag behind 2023 inflation estimates for some of Japan’s peers — 5.6% in the euro area, and 4.1% in the US — but sticky inflation in Japan continues to feed expectations that its central bank may move toward an exit from its aggressive monetary easing program.

The BOJ is set to meet later this month with analysts largely expecting it to raise its inflation forecasts. Kyodo News reported Tuesday without attribution that the BOJ may raise its price growth outlook for this fiscal year to near 3% from the 2.5% it announced in July. ...continue reading

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