BOJ will scale back stimulus in 2020 or later: Reuters poll

More than half of economists polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to delay policy normalization until 2020 or later, courtesy of tame inflation. 

Of 37 economists surveyed, 16 expect the BOJ will finally start to unwind that ultra-easy policy sometime next year, down from 18 in the April survey, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Sixteen economists expect it to happen in 2020 or later, up from 12 analysts in last month's survey. 

Key points

38 of 41 economists say BOJ to start unwinding its stimulus steps if it decides to change policy
Japan FY2018 core cpi forecast +0.9 pct, FY2019 +0.9 pct excluding impacts from planned sales tax hike in oct 2019 (vs +0.9 pct, +1.0 pct in April poll)
16 economists expect BOJ will scale back stimulus policy in 2020 or later, 12 said 1st half of 2019, 4 say 2nd half of 2019 (vs 12, 11, 7 in April poll)
Japan FY2018 GDP forecast +1.2 pct, FY2019 +0.8 pct (vs +1.3 pct, +0.8 pct in April poll)