TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan can wait for economic data due in the summer before deciding whether to ease policy further, a dovish aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday, indicating the government is not pressing the central bank for immediate action to bolster the economy.
As the world's second-biggest economy slows ahead of an April 1 rise in the national sales tax, speculation has risen that the BOJ may need to ramp up its already massive purchases of bonds and other assets.
But Koichi Hamada, professor emeritus of economics at Yale University, told Reuters in an interview, "My position is rather optimistic that the Bank of Japan should examine the economy closely when economic data reflecting the tax hike come out."
Major data showing the tax-hike impact will begin to be released from June and July.
"It is uncertain how serious the negative effect of the sales tax hike will be on the economy," Hamada said.
The BOJ last week kept its expansionary policy steady but extended and expanded special loan programs to help boost the economy.
Central bank board member Yoshihisa Morimoto said on Thursday that the BOJ need not wait and react to economic data but could be proactive if its economic forecasts appeared to be in jeopardy.
After the April increase in the sale tax to 8 percent from 5 percent, Abe must decide whether to proceed with a planned second hike, to 10 percent. The decision on the October 2015 tax hike is expected late this year.
Japan's economy grew much more slowly in the second half of 2013 than in the first half, which it was buoyed by the monetary and fiscal stimulus of "Abenomics."
(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Sumio Ito; Editing by William Mallard)
