Key insights
- BOJ minutes reveal board members considered further rate hikes necessary to combat inflation and curb yen depreciation. While no specific pace was agreed upon, some advocated for 'timely' action. This hawkish stance could strengthen the yen, potentially impacting global trade and currency valuations, indirectly influencing US equities through currency markets and global economic conditions.
By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, March 25 (Reuters) - Many Bank of Japan board members saw the need to keep raising interest rates without any specific pace in mind, although some called for "timely" action amid rising inflation, minutes of the bank’s January policy meeting showed on Wednesday.
"Given that addressing rising prices was an urgent priority in Japan, the BOJ should not take too much time examining the impact of past rate hikes, and should proceed with the next rate increase without missing the appropriate timing," one member was quoted as saying.
Another member said the BOJ should raise rates at intervals of a few months, adding that timely rate hikes were the only monetary policy prescription to curb unwelcome yen falls that push up import costs, the minutes showed.
At the January meeting, the BOJ kept short-term rates steady at 0.75% but retained its hawkish inflation forecasts in a sign of its readiness to continue pushing up borrowing costs.