U.S. Removes Call for BOJ to Raise Interest Rates

Washington, Jan. 29 (Jiji Press)–The U.S. Treasury Department removed its call for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in a semiannual report released Thursday. In the previous report, released in June last year, the department said, “BOJ policy tightening should continue to proceed in response to domestic economic fundamentals including growth and inflation, supporting a normalization of the yen’s weakness against the dollar and a much-needed structural rebalancing of bilateral trade.” A department official noted that the interest rate hike was a pressing issue more than six months ago, but the focus has shifted to other factors. The latest report cited “the prospects for more expansionary fiscal policies” under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as a reason for the yen’s weakening. The report placed a total of 10 countries and a region, including Japan, China and South Korea, on the “Monitoring List” of major trading partners having huge trade and current account surpluses with the United States. Thailand was newly added to the list. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]