BOJ’s Ueda voices confidence conveying rate hike message to market

The Bank of Japan’s message on gradual interest hikes has been clearly received by financial markets, Gov. Kazuo Ueda said, adding that more hikes will take place if its economic outlook is realized.

Speaking at the Lower House budget committee on Friday, Ueda said the BOJ’s policy settings are still accommodative after recent rate hikes and that would remain the case as the central bank continues to support the inflation trend. The governor said the underlying inflationary trend is below the bank’s 2% target.

“We are aiming for a gradual pickup in prices accompanied by a solid increase in wages,” Ueda said. “To achieve this, at present, we believe we need to support economic activity by maintaining accommodative monetary easing so that underlying inflation will gradually rise toward 2%.”