The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has slashed its inflation forecast on the back of the oil price, WM reported Wednesday. The Bank reduced the forecast for the year beginning in April to 1% from the 1.7% it predicted just three months ago. The bank’s boss Haruhiko Kuroda said he expected inflation to remain in check in the short term due to the fall in oil prices. At the same time the BoJ, as widely expected, resisted expanding quantitative easing and kept its promise to increase the monetary base by 80 trillion yen ($676b) through the purchase of government bonds and risk assets.
