An ancient Zen Buddhist koan asks, if the Bank of Japan hikes interest rates but nobody is able to read the statement that says so, has monetary policy actually been tightened?
For a few moments as the momentous BOJ decision approached on Wednesday, that seemed to be the terrifying prospect as armies of traders, analysts and journalists across the globe went to the bank’s website, only to be greeted with the message: "The page you requested is temporarily available due to network congestion or other issues. Please try again later.”
The bank was able to get its servers just about back up in time for the release. But it was just one of the ways Gov. Kazuo Ueda struggled to get his message across.