BOJ has no immediate plan to sell ETF holdings, Ueda says
Need time to decide on fate of ETF holdings, Ueda says
Board debated future of ETF holdings at April meeting
BOJ39;s ETF holdings in spotlight as means to fund spending

TOKYO, May 17 Reuters Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank had no immediate plan to sell its huge holdings of exchangetraded funds ETFs, which is drawing increased attention as a potential source of revenue to fund government initiatives.

We must spend some time in deciding what to do with our ETF holdings, including whether to unload them in the future, Ueda told parliament on Friday.

The remarks come amid growing debate about how the BOJ should best deal with the legacy of the its efforts to end deflation with heavy money printing, which left it with a huge balance sheet.

The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its radical stimulus programme in March, including a framework to buy risky assets such as ETFs that had been in place since 2010.

The central bank has yet to lay out a plan to unload its huge holdings of ETFs and government bonds partly out of concern of destabilising financial markets.

But some BOJ board members see scope to start discussions with one saying at last month39;s policy meeting that favourable market developments could allow them to discuss specifics on how to treat the bank39;s ETF holdings.

The BOJ should aim to bring the outstanding amount of its ETF…