(Bloomberg) — Bank of Japan Board Member Seiji Adachi emphasized the need for taking a gradual approach to raising the benchmark interest rate, in comments that will likely cement views in the market that authorities will stand pat when they gather to set policy this month.
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“What we need to be careful of, in a gradual rate hike process, is that we raise it extremely gradually while keeping financial conditions accommodative” until the price trend gets to 2%, Adachi said in a speech to local business leaders in Kagawa, on the island of Shikoku, Japan.
Adachi was speaking two weeks before authorities convene to consider policy on Oct. 31, with economists widely expecting a hold. Some have pushed their expectations for the BOJ’s next hike to January after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba voiced support for monetary easing on his first full day in office earlier this month.
Adachi’s emphasis on the gradual pace of tightening could boost market speculation that there will be no more rate increases this year.
Data Friday are expected to show consumer inflation slowed to 2.3% in September. That would be the slowest pace since April, while also stretching to streak of months at or above the BOJ’s 2% target to 30.
While economic data warrant policy normalization, there’s also a risk that an overly rapid pace of rate hikes could send the economy back into deflation, Adachi said.
The yen briefly gained after Adachi said conditions had been met for policy normalization, but the move was later reversed as speculators unwound some long yen positions, according to Hideki Shibata, senior strategist at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab Co.
–With assistance from Masahiro Hidaka.
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