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BOJ Is Said to Consider Taking Gloomier View on Economic Outlook

BOJ Is Said to Consider Taking Gloomier View on Economic Outlook

(Bloomberg) --

The Bank of Japan is considering lowering its forecasts for economic growth and inflation this year in a quarterly outlook report to be released at the end of a policy meeting on Oct. 31, according to people familiar with the matter.

Officials at the central bank see a need to factor into their growth and inflation forecasts a delayed pickup in the global economy and lower energy prices, the people said. Any downgrade is likely to be small, they added. A lowering of projections hasn’t prompted action from the central bank on most previous occasions.

The BOJ’s upcoming meeting comes amid some speculation the bank will add to its stimulus after calling at its last meeting for a review to be announced in October on the effect of the global slowdown on prices and the economy.

The BOJ has cut at least one of its outlook forecasts in each of its reports over the last several quarters. Yet Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has kept policy unchanged by emphasizing that price momentum has been maintained with a tight labor market and resilient business investment.

The most recent forecasts from the central bank were for inflation excluding fresh food to rise 1% in the year ending March 2020 and the economy to expand by 0.7% in the same period. The forecasts are the median figures of estimates by the nine-member board.

To contact the reporters on this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net;Sumio Ito in Tokyo at sito58@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Malcolm Scott at mscott23@bloomberg.net, Paul Jackson

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