Bank of Japan (BoJ) Meeting Schedule
The full calendar of scheduled meeting dates for the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is outlined below. It is also theoretically possible for the BoJ to hold extra, emergency meetings on top of this schedule.
The BoJ switched to an 8 meeting per year schedule from the start of 2016, meaning they now meet approximately every 6 weeks to discuss and set monetary policy. Each meeting last for two consecutive days with the policy announcement made on the 2nd day. The BoJ Governor holds a press conference after each of the policy meetings.
At four of these meetings (January, April, July and October), the BoJ also prepare and publish the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (Outlook Report) – ie the BoJ’s latest economic forecasts.
The BoJ, unlike other major central banks, do not have a precise time for when their policy decisions are announced. Based on recent meetings, typically (but NOT always) the BoJ announces between 11:45 Tokyo time and 13:00 Tokyo time. Again – there are exceptions to this rule and effective release times on European and US clocks are impacted by adjustments for daylight saving time, all of which is summarised in our BoJ timing guide.
Blackout Periods
BoJ Policy Board speakers observe a blackout period starting two days before the first day of the policy meeting and ending at “the end of the day” after the policy meeting finishes and after the Outlook Report (if due) has been released. For more details on blackouts, see our central bank blackout summary.
2017
| Month | Day | Event | Press Conf? |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31st | Policy Decision & Outlook | Y |
| February | 8th | Sum. of Opinions (Jan) | |
| March | 16th | Policy Decision | Y |
| March | 22nd | Minutes (Jan) | |
| March | 27th | Sum. of Opinions (Mar) | |
| April | 27th | Policy Decision & Outlook | Y |
| May | 2nd | Minutes (Mar) | |
| May | 10th | Sum. of Opinions (Apr) | |
| June | 16th | Policy Decision | Y |
| June | 21st | Minutes (Apr) | |
| June | 26th | Sum. of Opinions (Jun) | |
| July | 20th | Policy Decision & Outlook | Y |
| July | 25th | Minutes (Jun) | |
| July | 28th | Sum. of Opinions (Jul) | |
| September | 21st | Policy Decision | Y |
| September | 26th | Minutes (Jul) | |
| September | 29th | Sum. of Opinions (Sep) | |
| October | 31st | Policy Decision & Outlook | Y |
| November | 6th | Minutes (Sep) | |
| November | 9th | Sum. of Opinions (Oct) | |
| December | 21st | Policy Decision | Y |
| December | 26th | Minutes (Oct) | |
| December | 28th | Sum. of Opinions (Dec) |
Source: http://www.boj.or.jp/en/mopo/mpmsche_minu/index.htm/
Meeting Minutes & Summary of Opinions
The minutes of the BoJ meetings are published separately, but not until well after the meeting and normally after the following meeting has already occurred, meaning the information to be gleaned from the minutes is often stale.
The BoJ also produces a more timely “Summary of Opinions” which is published approximately one to two weeks after the Monetary Policy Meeting (ie before the Minutes and before the following Monetary Policy Meeting). This is a collection of opinions submitted by each policy board member and then edited down by the BoJ Governor.