BOJ’s Ueda Vows to Avoid Falling behind Curve

Tokyo, April 28 (Jiji Press)–Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Tuesday that the central bank will manage monetary policy appropriately so that it is not too late to raise interest rates. “We’ll make an appropriate policy decision at the next (policy-setting) meeting after checking if we could fall behind the curve,” Ueda said at a press conference following a two-day policy meeting that ended earlier in the day. At the latest meeting, the BOJ’s Policy Board voted six to three to maintain its policy interest rate at 0.75 pct, while raising the bank’s fiscal 2026 inflation forecast to 2.8 pct from 1.9 pct. The three dissenting members proposed raising the policy rate to 1.0 pct. During the press conference, Ueda acknowledged the increasing risk of inflation rising higher than expected, but indicated that the BOJ sees no urgent need to raise interest rates at the moment. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]