Risk averse Tokyo, mass vaccinations yet to begin

While the Bank of Japan’s consumption index fell a bit more sharply than we were anticipating in January, it came off the back of an upwardly revised, virus-era-high in December. Indeed, our GDP tracker continues to point to the economy dodging a contraction this quarter. Meanwhile, Japan’s vaccine rollout has got off to a crawling start. Daily jab numbers will continue to disappoint until the mass vaccination programme begins in earnest in around two weeks’ time.