Haruhiko Kuroda: Policy measures to date and in the future, in response to the spread of COVID-19 - lessons from the global financial crisis

Opening remarks by Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, at the Virtual Conference, co-hosted by the International Monetary Fund and the University of Tokyo, 24 November 2020.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Introduction

It is my great honor to speak today at this virtual conference co-hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the University of Tokyo. It has been a decade since the global financial crisis - or GFC - and two decades since Japan's financial crisis and the Asian financial crisis. Today, we are facing a new crisis, triggered by the spread of COVID-19. This conference is intended to learn from our past experience and to gain insight into how best to respond to these extremely challenging circumstances. In this sense, the conference could hardly be more timely.

I. Policy Responses to Date regarding COVID-19

The spread of COVID-19 has had an even greater impact on the global economy than the GFC. The GDP growth rate for the April-June quarter of 2020 declined substantially in many countries. Moreover, due to concerns over the deterioration in the real economy, global financial markets temporarily became volatile in March: there was a sudden drop in the prices of stocks and credit assets; the CP and corporate bond markets became frozen; and there were substantial outflows of capital from emerging economies.