The Japanese government is planning to include the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) in their official economic development plan. The information appeared 10 days after the Bank of Japan announced their plans to experiment with the digital yen in order to figure out what it is capable of in practice.
According to Nikkei, the CBDC will be included in Honebuto, which is the plan aimed at economic and fiscal revival of Japan. Apparently, this plan is a cornerstone of Japan's economic and fiscal policies at this point. The report also reads to Japan will consider the CBDC when coordinating their relations with other countries of the world.
Japan and CBDC
After China started testing the digital yuan, the Japanese government accelerated their efforts to get ready for their own CBDC. In March, Kozo Yamamoto, who used to work for the Japanese Ministry of Finance, urged the Japanese authorities to introduce the CBDC as soon as possible. He told that if Japan fails to introduce the digital yen, while the rest of the world is using other digital currencies, then the yen will be forgotten as a financial asset and will lose its sovereignty.
It is interesting to note that the Bank of Japan has changed their mind rater quickly. In June, they said they had no plans to emit the CBDC. Still, this month's reports indicates their willingness to start playing around with the digital yen for the sake of experimenting with it.
It's interesting to note that it's the Japanese government, not the Bank of Japan, who decides whether the CBDC will be introduced or not.
CBDC in the world
In February, the Bank of England, the ECB, the national banks of Japan, Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden announced their cooperation plan aimed at researching the problems related to digital currency emission. At the same time, the Bank of Lithuania is reported to be starting the beta testing of LBCOIN, Lithuania's CBDC.
The Bank of Canada recently published an analytic note for the employees to let them know that the CBDC should resemble conventional money. In May, France tested the digital euro, which ended up with a success.
All in all, over 70% of the central banks participating in last year's survey are either planning to start working or already working on their own CBDCs.
