BoJ Kuroda: Impact of the Ukraine crisis on Japan's economy extremely uncertain

Bank of Japan's governor Haruhiko Kuroda is speaking in parliament and says that Japan's economy is likely to recover adding that inflation will clearly accelerate due to a sharp rise in energy prices and the dissipating effect of cellphone fee cuts.

However, he added that an expected acceleration of inflation could hurt Japan's economy by weighing on household income and corporate profit, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Tuesday.

"We will patiently maintain powerful monetary easing to support an economy still in the midst of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic's impact," he told parliament in a semi-annual testimony.

Key quotes

Impact of the Ukraine crisis on Japan's economy extremely uncertain.

The expected rise in inflation is driven by an increase in import costs, which could hurt Japan's economy via a decline in household income, and corporate profits.

BoJ will maintain powerful monetary easing to support the economy still in the midst of recovering from the pandemic hit.

BoJ will strive to ensure market stability through ample liquidity provision.

Senior BoJ official: Japan's consumer inflation is likely to hover around 2% for some time from April onward.

Senior BoJ official: Price rise must be accompanied by increases in corporate profits, wages for inflation to sustainably achieve 2%.