BOJ Needs to Shift Gears on Rate Hikes: Policymaker Takata

   Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan needs to consider implementing further gear shifts in its monetary policy after last month's additional interest rate hike, BOJ policymaker Hajime Takata said Wednesday.
   In a speech at a conference in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Takata underlined the need to raise interest rates further to forestall excessive expectations for continued monetary accommodation and materialization of risks such as unexpectedly strong inflation and an overheating of financial activities.
   Referring to positive corporate moves, such as capital spending expansion, efforts to pass on higher costs to clients and wage hikes, Takata said that "inflation is approaching the 2 pct price stability target."
   He also called for attention to upside risks to prices that may be materialized if an upswing in the U.S. economy accelerates U.S. interest rate rises and a weaker yen while at the same time, large wage increases are realized in this year's "shunto" spring labor-management negotiations in Japan.
   On monetary policy, Takata said that the BOJ needs to take a cautious approach and examine at each policy-setting meeting "how policy interest rate hikes may affect developments in economic activity, prices and financial conditions."

(2025/02/19-18:05)

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