BOJ's balance sheet almost as big as Japanese economy

At around 93%, the scale of the Japanese central bank's assets in proportion to GDP has no close match. Latest data shows that the U.S. Federal Reserve held roughly $4.5 trillion in assets, which is equivalent to 23% of the country's GDP. The European Central Bank's balance sheet, at about 4.2 trillion euros ($4.71 trillion)  is larger than the BOJ's, but it still sits at around 28% of the eurozone GDP.

The BOJ in September shifted its policy focus from quantitative easing to controlling the yield curve, but the bank is still snapping up JGBs to keep long-term rates at around zero. The central bank has stood firm on its pledge to continue expanding its balance sheet to boost currency supply until Japan's consumer price inflation is steadily above 2%. This suggests that the BOJ's balance sheet will continue expanding past the 500 trillion yen mark.