Former BOJ governor candidate Ito: Vaccine could quicken Japan’s economic rebound by 2022

In a Bloomberg interview conducted earlier this week, Takatoshi Ito, a prominent economist who was once a favored candidate to become Bank of Japan  (BOJ) governor, said that the Japanese economy could see a quicker turnaround by 2022 if a vaccine becomes available.

Key quotes

“We could see a U-shaped recovery.”

“It relies on having a vaccine, but we could be back where we were before 2022.”

“The return of equity markets to pre-Covid levels as a sign investors agree a virus cure could make the current global crisis short-lived compared with the last one in 2009.”

“The second quarter numbers were shocking, but compared to the financial crisis, the pandemic’s effects may be sharper, but shorter in timeframe.”

“Rebounds in various data signal Japan already is bouncing back from May’s bottom.”

 “Sees stimulus from the Abe administration and the BOJ as basically sufficient.”

“Unless there’s some serious reason that prevents him from doing his job, the BOJ governor shouldn’t quit.”

“It would threaten the future independence of the central bank.”