Finance
BOJ Governor Ueda's comments at news conference
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 19, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 19, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
BOJ holds rates at 0.25% with a potential 2024 policy shift. Governor Ueda highlights Japan's wage-inflation cycle and US economic uncertainties.
(Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday but one dissenting board member's proposal to push up borrowing costs showed the central bank remains on track to tighten policy early next year.
As widely expected, the nine-member BOJ board voted 8-1 to keep its short-term policy rate unchanged at 0.25% in a sign policymakers preferred to tread cautiously amid uncertainty over U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's economic plans.
Following are excerpts from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:
NEXT RATE HIKE
"Real interest rates remain very low. If the economy and prices move in line with our forecast, we will continue to raise our policy rate. As for the timing of adjusting the degree of monetary support, we need to scrutinise various data carefully in reaching a decision." STRENGTH OF JAPAN'S WAGE-INFLATION CYCLE
"We need some more information on the outlook for wages, including the momentum of next year's wage negotiations, to confirm the strength of Japan's wage-inflation cycle."
UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK
"Uncertainty remains on the U.S. and overseas outlook. There's also uncertainty on the incoming U.S. administration's policies."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
The main topic is the Bank of Japan's decision to keep interest rates unchanged and the potential for a policy shift in 2024.
Governor Ueda discussed the possibility of future rate hikes and the importance of Japan's wage-inflation cycle.
There is uncertainty due to US economic policies and global economic conditions.
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