Japan panel invites inflation expert, economists to special sessions -minister

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Japan's new Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Shigeyuki Goto arrives at prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato

By Kantaro Komiya and Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) -The Japanese government's top economic policy panel will invite eight economists, including an expert on inflation in Japan, to its upcoming special sessions to discuss the country's long-term policies, Economy Minister Shigeyuki Goto said on Friday.

Among others, the special meetings of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy will invite University of Tokyo Professor Tsutomu Watanabe, a former Bank of Japan (BOJ) official known for his analysis of Japan's price trends and monetary policy responses.

Goto told a news conference that the sessions were not meant to discuss the BOJ's exit strategy from monetary easing or craft a new joint statement between the BOJ and the government.

There has been an internal consideration within the government to revise the current joint statement, widely known as the policy “accord” of 2013, this year, sources have told Reuters as financial markets bet that a weak yen and rising consumer prices will force the central bank to finally drop its ultra-loose policy.

"We will have the experts discuss a policy mix between fiscal and monetary policies," Goto said. "We aim to restore the economy which faces difficulties posed by price hikes as well as slowdown in the global economy and to tackle fiscal reform."

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month announced the plan to convene the sessions to stimulate discussion into how to achieve a "virtuous cycle" of growth and distribution, before the government compiles its annual mid-year policy blueprint in the summer.

Launching the new sessions should help the world's third largest economy tackle unprecedented difficulty in the face of a global slowdown and Russia's invasion of Ukraine so as to achieve virtuous cycle of growth and wealth distribution, Goto said.

The experts also include Princeton University's Nobuhiro Kiyotaki, Dai-ichi Life Research Institute's Toshihiro Nagahama, Hitotsubashi University's Motohiro Sato and Fujitsu Research Institute's Martin Schulz, among others.

Goto also said he will attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 17-19 to explain Japan’s economic and fiscal policies as a panelist.