Bank of Japan holds fire on monetary policy: Is Abenomics working for the economy?

In tune with monetary policymakers worldwide, the Bank of Japan refrained from making any changes to its rather sizeable stimulus programme. The quantitative easing programme at ¥80tn, (£432bn, €602bn, $662bn), is part of Japan's PM Shinzō Abe's economic policies, dubbed Abenomics.

With Japan's economy slowing down for months, critics of Abenomics have said that the aggressive asset-buying and monetary easing (reducing interest rates) are the wrong way to maintain the country's strong position.

"These moves are remarkably similar to those by the ECB in September. So staying with this comparison, the BoJ may well hint at additional easing measures for 2016 in its November meeting," Rabobank analyst Stefan Koopman said. "By that time it should also have the Q3 GDP growth figures at its disposal, where the consensus is looking for the second consecutive quarterly decline."

As economies across the globe are showing slowdowns in their economic recovery from the crash, it is no surprise that Japan is among those more sluggish in terms of growth. That does not mean, however, that Abe can be complacent.

Japan has a debt equivalent to a staggering 230% of its GDP. It has always been said that there is no reason for the country of the rising sun to be too concerned about the outstanding debt, as long as it can deal with it, but now its Standard and Poor credit rating has been cut to AA- (down from A+), well below the ratings of the UK and US, and the stability is being questioned.

"Abenomics is heading for its third anniversary," Koopman said. "And it would seem – following news reports in the Nikkei daily – that the government could celebrate it with yet another fiscal stimulus package as well. Hurray!"

Those in favour of Abenomics argue that the restructuring could not have come at a better time. Especially that Japan will soon benefit from the controversial Trans-pacific Partnership, the country's economy might turn around soon.

The monetary policy is fully focused on encouraging consumerism in the country as it shifts to a more customer-based economy. Whether it works is yet to be seen, but it is clear that Abe's way of dealing with Japan is not that far off from European, UK and US monetary policy.