Japan nears beating chronic deflation

Japan is closer to conquering chronic deflation with monetary policy working as hoped, Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hiroshi Nakaso said Wednesday.
Nakaso said in a speech to business leaders in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan that Japan's economy is likely to achieve an inflation rate of about 2% in or around fiscal 2015, and thereafter gradually shift to a growth path that sustains such inflation in a stable manner, according to Japan's (Kyodo) News Agency.
The "conquest of deflation in Japan is now in sight," he said, although acknowledging that the bank is still "only halfway toward achieving" the inflation goal under its aggressive monetary easing, introduced in April 2013 and including massive purchases of Japanese government bonds and other financial assets from banks.