* Successful fiscal, monetary measures to stabilize the economy – Kuroda
* Economy recovering to the end of the pre-COVID phase of FY2021, early 2022
* Digitization, a green economy will be a key driver for growth (Kuroda excerpts on economy, policy)
TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Japan’s economy is likely to recover to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels as early as March next year, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Monday, offering a positive outlook on the prospect of recovery despite headaches from COVID-19.
Kuroda also said that a combination of expanding fiscal and monetary policies has stabilized Japan’s economy, indicating that the BOJ has offered enough stimulus for now to reduce the economic blow of the health crisis.
“Both fiscal and monetary policies have been successful in preventing physical failures and unemployment,” Kuroda said at a prestigious meeting of the World Economic Forum.
“We anticipate that, perhaps by the end of fiscal 2021 or early fiscal 2022, Japan’s economy will recover and return to levels before the pandemic begins,” he said.
In its latest quarterly forecasts published last week, the BOJ expects the world’s third-largest economy to grow 3.9% in the fiscal year beginning in April, with the then a 1.8% increase in fiscal 2022.
The main challenge for policymakers is to prevent the pandemic from leaving a lasting scar on the economy, and to stimulate growth as a means of promoting digitization and a “green” economy. ”, Said Kuroda.
“The economy was green … important before the pandemic. But now it’s more important. It would make our economy more sustainable. At the same time, it would provide some growth incentives, ”he said.
After suffering the biggest postwar recession in April-June last year, Japan’s economy has been largely recovering from the pandemic thanks to a reversal in outsourcing. opposite and result.
But a resurgence in disease has forced the government to announce a new state of emergency in January, threatening to cool spending and push the economy back into recession. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Jacqueline Wong)