Tokyo, Oct. 1 (Jiji Press)–A Bank of Japan policymaker said at the BOJ’s latest policy-setting meeting that the central bank needs to accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes, a summary of opinions at the Sept. 17-18 meeting showed Thursday. At the September meeting, the BOJ Policy Board voted 7-2 to raise its policy interest rate to 1.25 pct, three months after the previous rate hike in June. According to the summary, a Cabinet Office representative urged the BOJ to “fulfill its accountability” for the rate hike and “examine carefully the cumulative effects of past policy interest rate hikes.” During the meeting, a BOJ Policy Board member said that the interval between rate hikes would be “shorter than before” because economic conditions were “more resilient than expected.” Another member said that the BOJ would “need to accelerate the pace of rate hikes” if there were signs of an upward deviation in prices. Meanwhile, one member mentioned a “shift in the phase” of the BOJ’s monetary policy, noting that it is important to prevent the risk of an upward shift in the underlying inflation rate, excluding temporary variables, from materializing and having a negative impact on the economy. One opinion pointed out that the BOJ needs to “demonstrate to the market its determination to prevent upward deviations in prices,” while giving consideration to the impact stemming from foreign exchange rate fluctuations. There was also a view that an interest rate hike was necessary to curb inflation caused by the weak yen. Among BOJ policymakers, Toichiro Asada and Ayano Sato opposed the latest rate hike. The summary showed that a member said that it was “not appropriate” for the BOJ to raise the policy interest rate as economic and price developments did not appear to have substantially accelerated compared with previous levels. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
