BoJ’s Masu says central bank is not behind the curve in dealing with inflation

Finance

BoJs Masu says central bank is not behind the curve in dealing with inflation

Bank of Japan (BoJ) policy board member Kazuyuki Masu said on Friday that central bank is not behind the curve in dealing with inflation. Masu further stated that BoJ shouldn‘t raise rates too quickly in a way that derails Japan’s economic recovery.

Key quotes

BoJ is not behind the curve in dealing with inflation.

Not thinking of particular pace of rate hike.

It‘s obvious BoJ shouldn’t raise rates too quickly in a way that derails Japans economic recovery.

Im not saying that food prices are rising in a way that needs immediate policy action.

Dont have specific timeframe in mind on how soon boj should raise rates to levels deemed neutral to economy,

BoJ should scrutinise economic developments and guide policy in an appropriate way so that underlying inflation moves around 2%.

It would be wrong to have preset idea in mind on how soon to raise rates.

If there is sufficient data that convinces us we should act, then we should act without hesitation.

Market reaction

As of writing, the USD/JPY pair is down 0.21% on the day at 156.70.