MNI BRIEF: BOJ's Ueda Says To Lift Rate, Offers No Timing Clue

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the BOJ will continue to raise its rate, but offered no hints as to pace or timing, indicating that decisions depend on economic and price conditions.

Real interest rates are at significantly low levels, Ueda said.

“The Bank believes that adjusting the degree of monetary accommodation as appropriate will lead to smoothly achieving the price stability target and to long-term growth that can serve as a foundation for firms to conduct business with confidence,” Ueda said at a meeting of councillors of business federation Keidanren.

“The likelihood of Japan's economy returning to a so-called zero norm state, in which wages and prices hardly change, seems to have decreased considerably,” Ueda said. “Underlying inflation has followed a moderate uptrend on the whole and is steadily approaching 2%,” Ueda said.

The BOJ on Dec 19 unanimously decided to raise its rate to 0.75% from 0.50%, its first hike since January to the highest level since 1995.