BOJ’s Kuroda warns of risk from emerging market slowdown

NAGOYA, Japan Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned on Monday that a slowdown in emerging economies, if prolonged, may hurt Japanese business confidence and discourage firms from increasing capital expenditure.

“The BOJ will respond without hesitation if it sees the need to do so to achieve its 2 percent inflation target at the earliest date possible,” he told business leaders in Nagoya, central Japan.

The BOJ has held off on expanding its massive stimulus program since last October, even as the economy relapsed into recession and falling energy costs push inflation further away from its target.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Stanley White- Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)