To support the economy, the Bank of Japan continues to carry out unusual monetary easing as a central bank, such as purchasing ETFs = exchange-traded funds that are at risk of price declines.

The minutes of the monetary policy decision meeting about 10 years ago, when the Bank of Japan decided to introduce such measures for the first time, were released, and the committee members at that time pointed out that the loss should be accountable as it would lead to the burden on the people. It was.

On the 25th, the Bank of Japan released the minutes of the monetary policy meeting held from July to December 2010.



At that time, in the foreign exchange market, the yen appreciated to the level of 84 yen per dollar in mid-August due to concerns about the future of the US and European economies, the highest level in 15 years.



At that time, Prime Minister Suga, who became more vulnerable, expressed his intention to call on the BOJ's governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, to take action at the extraordinary monetary policy meeting at the end of August. I decided to take mitigation.

At the meeting at that time, Governor Shirakawa said, "Currently, the Bank of Japan has a very strong monetary easing policy, so the interest rate level is the lowest in the world. Therefore, we all have wisdom about what kind of policy measures can be taken. It can be seen that they are struggling to respond, such as saying, "I'm over."



However, the yen continued to appreciate, and on September 15, the government and the Bank of Japan embarked on market intervention to sell yen and buy dollars for the first time in six and a half years.



Even so, the appreciation of the yen did not stop, and there were growing voices in the government and business community that the Bank of Japan should take the plunge.



Under these circumstances, at a meeting held in early October, the Bank of Japan proposed to purchase relatively high-risk financial assets such as stocks in order to fund the market from multiple policymakers.



The BOJ said that the zero interest rate policy would be revived, although some policymakers were cautious about how many endless (purchasing) demands would come out of the market when it was not effective. , Decided to establish a fund to purchase government bonds and ETFs = exchange-traded funds that make multiple stocks together.



However, because it is an unprecedented measure for central bank monetary easing, the Bank of Japan at that time, Kiyohiko Nishimura, said, "Purchasing various financial assets means that the Bank of Japan bears the risk of loss. We have to say again and again that taking risks means that the people take risks. "



Governor Shirakawa also commented on accountability, "I think it is necessary for the committee members as a whole, not just me, to work hard. In the end, we do not take ourselves out of our pockets, but put a burden on the people." I was responding.



At the next meeting held in the same month, the Bank of Japan announced that it would limit the purchase of ETFs through the fund to around 450 billion yen.



Since then, the purchase amount of ETFs has been gradually expanded, and the total amount of ETFs held by the Bank of Japan has risen to over 35 trillion yen at the price at the time of acquisition.



It has been more than 10 years since the Bank of Japan decided to buy ETFs, and while some experts have pointed out that while it has had some effect, such as curbing market turmoil, it causes distortions in financial markets.



* The "moon" of "Qing" is "yen"