(Adds quote, context on BOJ pilot programme on CBDC)
By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, March 28 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan must be
ready to issue central bank digital currencies (CBDC) that
coexist with various other forms of money to offer the public a
safe digital payment system, its governor Haruhiko Kuroda said
on Tuesday.
The central bank will start a pilot programme in April to
test the use of a digital yen, joining a growing number of
countries seeking to catch up with front-runner China in
launching a CBDC.
"Ensuring the coexistence of CBDC with various other forms
of money ... is something that we need to and will in fact
achieve in the future," Kuroda said in a speech delivered to a
seminar on financial technology.
"There are various options lying before us in terms of how
and when to carry this out. But it's our duty as a central bank
to prepare ourselves to respond flexibly to any change in
circumstances," he said.
The BOJ has said the pilot programme, which will follow two
years of experiments it had been conducting, will help it be
ready in case the government decides to issue a digital yen.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
and Sam Holmes)
Messaging: leika.kihara.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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