Asset Mountain: Pond Presence and Economists Laud

asset mountain: While economists laud the relative success of the BOJ's measures to support businesses and the economy through the COVID-19 crisis, many of them also warn that accelerated growth in the bank's asset mountain will be hard to scale back in the future without unnerving investors and shocking loan-dependent companies and policy makers, according to The Japan Times. With its array of corporate debt and commercial paper quickly building, the BOJ's whale in the pond presence is also spreading beyond government bonds and stock funds to distort other markets and further crowd out private investors. The central bank's growing pile of assets has now reached the equivalent of 137% of gross domestic product, according to a Bloomberg calculation based on official data. ; In dollar terms, the tally of securities, loans and other assets is just 8% smaller than that of the Federal Reserve, even though the U.S. economy is four times bigger than Japan's. RELATED STORIES Bank of Japan and PM Suga agree to work closely in first meeting Bank of Japan upgrades assessments on eight of nine regional economies Bank of Japan to begin test of digital currency in 2021 It's like the BOJ has created an intensive care unit and wheeled everybody inside. The BOJ aggressively ramped up its lending and asset buying in March as the looming scale of the pandemic spread jitters among investors and businesses. It's so comfortable on the drip feed that no one wants to leave, said Takahiro Sekido, chief Japan strategist at MUFG Bank Ltd. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.