BOJ’s Kuroda says near-term focus will be to ease funding strains

TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Tuesday the near-term focus of monetary policy would be on easing corporate funding strains and stabilising financial markets.

In a semi-annual testimony to parliament, Kuroda said he saw no huge risk of Japan suffering from a sharp credit contraction, noting that domestic financial institutions have sufficient capital buffers.

But he said the coronavirus pandemic had heightened the need for the BOJ to look carefully at the impact the economic hit from the crisis could have on Japan’s banking system and asset markets. (Reporting by Leika Kihara Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)