TOKYO: Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Thursday that the country’s economic recovery is “expected to become evident next year” as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to wane.

“Downward pressure stemming from the impact of COVID-19 and supply-side constraints are likely to wane, and the government’s new economic measures are expected to have positive effects,” Kuroda said in a speech in Tokyo.

Kuroda said, “The yen’s depreciation might have an increasingly negative impact on household income through price rises.”

But he added that a weaker yen leads to an increase in exports and allows Japanese companies to earn more from overseas operations. “The yen’s depreciation basically has a net positive impact on Japan’s economy,” he said.

The BOJ governor said that the central bank’s “basic policy stance is to persistently continue with the current powerful monetary easing.”

JIJI Press