BOJ Member Warned against Missing Rate Hike Chance: Minutes

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)–A Bank of Japan policymaker warned against missing an opportunity to raise interest rates at a monetary policy meeting in January, according to the minutes of the meeting released Wednesday. After its decision to raise the policy rate to 0.75 pct from 0.5 pct last December, the BOJ “should not take too much time examining the impact” of the move, given the urgency of addressing rising prices in Japan, the policymaker was quoted as saying in the minutes of the Jan. 22-23 meeting. The bank “should proceed with the next step, a rate hike, without missing the appropriate timing,” the policymaker continued. Regarding the timing of the next interest rate hike, most policymakers said that it would be “desirable for the bank to make decisions as appropriate at each monetary policy meeting without having a specific pace in mind.” Meanwhile, one board member said that “even though upside risks to prices had increased, this did not necessitate a policy interest rate hike at every meeting.” Another member said that it would be appropriate to raise interest rates “at intervals of a few months.” On the recent weakening of the yen and the rise in long-term interest rates, the same member said that “the only prescription from the monetary policy side was to raise the policy interest rate in a timely and appropriate manner.” At the January meeting, many board members also stressed the need to pay closer attention to the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations on prices, referring to the possibility that the yen’s fall could heighten inflationary pressure. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]