The Bank of Japan could raise its benchmark rate for a second straight month when its board meets in October, earlier than many economists expect, according to a former executive director in charge of monetary policy.
“The basic pace will probably be once every three months, but there’s also a reasonable chance that the BOJ could raise rates at consecutive meetings,” Kazuo Momma, the former executive director, said in an interview on Friday. “I’d put that possibility at around 20% to 30%.”
Momma spoke one week after Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s board lifted the policy rate three months after an increase in June, marking an acceleration from the previous pace of hiking roughly once every six months. Ueda explained that the BOJ had entered a new phase, shifting its focus from coaxing underlying inflation higher toward 2% to preventing it from overshooting that target.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.