“They’re in the process of debating what should be their reaction,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics research at Bank of America in New York. “They know that inflation’s very hard to change, that it’s a sticky process; it can take years to move.”

El-Erian said he expects the Fed to remain “hyper-active” in its efforts to aid the economy in 2014, though it might change its mix of tools. It will “slowly -- and I stress slowly” moderate its asset purchases while strengthening its pledge to keep interest rates low for a long time, he said.

Janet Yellen will face that balance if she’s confirmed as Bernanke’s replacement. Yellen, currently vice chairman, will appear before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow in the first step of the approval process.

The central bank said Oct. 30 it will press on with its monthly asset purchases and continue to hold short-term rates near zero at least as long as unemployment is above 6.5 percent and forecast inflation is below 2.5 percent. The joblessness rate in October was 7.3 percent.

In Japan, the BOJ has had some success in battling deflation after swinging into action in April, when it pledged to double the monetary base through purchases of government bonds and other assets.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 0.7 percent in September from a year earlier, down from 0.8 percent in August, the fastest increase since November 2008. The yen has dropped about 20 percent against the dollar in the past year, boosting prices of imported goods.

‘Major Victory’

“Core inflation is now no longer negative,” said Jerald Schiff, deputy director of the IMF’s Asia-Pacific Department. That “is a major victory in the Japanese context.”

Financial-market expectations of inflation also have risen, to between 1 percent and 1.5 percent, though they remain below the BOJ’s goal, he said.

“Japan’s deflationary trend is changing, but it’s still impossible to achieve the 2 percent price target in two years,” said Nobuyasu Atago, principal economist at the Japan Center for Economic Research in Tokyo and a former BOJ official in charge of price data.