The finance ministry will set up a panel of experts as early as April to discuss the feasibility of issuing a digital currency, but authorities say the pilot programme could take years to launch.
Japan is stepping up efforts toward issuing a digital yen with the creation of a government advisory panel and the launch of a pilot programme, joining a growing number of countries exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The finance ministry will set up a panel of experts as early as April to discuss the feasibility of issuing a digital yen, Reuters reported on Friday citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.
The step will come after the central bank’s decision to start in April a pilot programme to test the use of a digital yen, moving Japan closer to issuing a CBDC in several years.
Under a medium-term policy platform issued in 2021, the government pledged to start examining the feasibility of a CBDC when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) completed the initial phase of experiments by March 2023, which it has.
“It will be in line with the pledge made in the policy platform,” one of the sources said on the plan to set up a government panel, a view echoed by the other source.
Both sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak publicly.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters on Friday the government was still in the process of scrutinising ways to meet the pledge to examine the feasibility of a CBDC, including the idea of the panel.
The BOJ has said no decision has been made on whether Japan will issue a CBDC.
But it spent two years experimenting and will move to the next phase of conducting a pilot programme from April, to be ready in case the government decides to issue a digital yen.
This article was originally published by TRT News.
