TOKYO- Bank of Japan policymakers discussed the need for caution over near-term interest rate hikes with some voicing concern over unstable financial markets and the US economic outlook, a summary of their September meeting showed on Tuesday.
Even a proponent of future rate increases called for patience in pulling the trigger, the summary showed, highlighting a dovish shift in the nine-member board that diminishes the chance of a hike in October.
“I remain convinced that if it’s confirmed that there will be no major downward revision to our outlook, it’s desirable to raise rates without taking too much time,” one member was quoted as saying at the September meeting.
“But rate hikes should not be an end in itself,” the member said, calling for the need to wait for the “appropriate” timing in pushing up borrowing costs.
Given economic and market uncertainties, it was undesirable for the BOJ to raise rates further at this point as doing so might suggest the central bank was shifting to a full-fledged monetary tightening cycle, another opinion showed.
“Overseas economic uncertainties have heightened. We should scrutinize overseas and market developments closely for the time being,” a third opinion showed, adding that rate hikes can wait until such uncertainties diminish.
At the September meeting, the BOJ kept short-term rates steady at 0.25 percent and its governor said it could afford to spend time eyeing the fallout from global economic uncertainties, signaling it was in no rush to raise borrowing costs further.
The BOJ next meets for a rate review on Oct. 30-31, when the board also releases fresh quarterly growth and price forecasts that will be crucial to the bank’s long-term policy path.
“In conducting monetary policy, it’s necessary to give due consideration to downside risks to Japan’s economy and monitor data carefully,” a fourth opinion showed, highlighting how the BOJ’s focus was shifting away from the risk of an inflation overshoot towards underpinning a fragile recovery.
The BOJ ended negative rates in March and raised short-term borrowing costs to 0.25 percent in July on the view Japan was making progress towards durably achieving its 2 percent inflation target.
The BOJ’s rate hike in July and Governor Kazuo Ueda’s hawkish comments, coupled with weak US labor market data, triggered a spike in the yen and stock market rout in early August. Since then, BOJ policymakers have stressed the need to take into account the economic fallout from market volatility.
The BOJ’s Sept. 19-20 policy meeting came a day after the US Federal Reserve’s decision to deliver an oversized reduction in borrowing costs.
