The BOJ released the minutes of its July Monetary Policy Meeting. As the underlying trend in inflation changes, the focus is shifting toward avoiding an upside surprise, while some called for the pace of rate hikes to be accelerated.
The BOJ released the minutes of its Monetary Policy Meeting held on 30 and 31 July. The minutes indicate that one Policy Board member pointed to a shift in focus toward avoiding a further upside surprise in underlying inflation, excluding temporary factors.
The member expressed the view that the pace of rate hikes needs to be accelerated. Meanwhile, the meeting decided to leave the policy rate unchanged at its current level of 1.0%.
Takada Hajime (高田創) was reportedly the only one of the 9 members to oppose keeping policy unchanged. The article reports that Takada discussed overseas-originated inflation and other factors, but does not include the details of the discussion in the main text.
The release of the minutes is expected to affect the future course of interest-rate policy and market expectations.