BOJ to Make Appropriate Rate Decision at Next Meeting: Ueda

Nagoya, Dec. 1 (Jiji Press)–Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Monday that the central bank will make an appropriate decision on whether to raise interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting scheduled for Dec. 18-19. “The bank will examine and discuss economic activity and prices at home and abroad as well as developments in financial and capital markets…based on various data and information, and will consider the pros and cons of raising the policy interest rate and make decisions as appropriate,” Ueda said in a speech in the central Japan city of Nagoya. The BOJ will continue to hike rates and adjust the degree of monetary accommodation “in accordance with improvement in economic activity and prices,” he added. The bank is “actively collecting information regarding firms’ stance toward raising wages through its head office (in Tokyo) and branches” elsewhere in the country, Ueda also said. The governor likened a rate increase to “easing off the accelerator as appropriate” toward achieving stable economic growth and price developments, not “applying the brakes on economic activity.” Adjusting the degree of policy accommodation appropriately “will be necessary to smoothly achieve the (BOJ’s) price stability target (of 2 pct) while ensuring stability in financial and capital markets, and to guide Japan’s economy onto a long-term growth path,” Ueda said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]