Unlike US, Bank of Japan policymaker calls for keeping low rates and focus on wages – Business

TOKYO (Reuters/Web Desk) – Bank of Japan (BOJ) board member Asahi Noguchi said on Thursday the central bank must maintain ultra-loose monetary policy to ensure wages, seen as key to driving inflation to its 2 per cent target, continue to increase as a trend.

Noguchi said core consumer inflation, which has remained above 2pc for more than a year, will likely fall below that level around September or October as the effect of past rises in raw material costs dissipates.

The statement comes as US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony on Wednesday reinforced the central bank’s objective to rein in inflation as he hinted at the likelihood of further interest rate hikes.

Whether inflation bounces back above 2pc and stays above that level will depend on the outlook for wages and services prices, said Noguchi, who is considered an advocate of aggressive monetary easing in the nine-member board.

“What’s most important now is for the BOJ to maintain monetary easing and ensure budding signs of wage growth become a sustained, strong trend,” he said in a speech delivered to business leaders in Naha, southern Japan.

Noguchi also warned of risks to Japan’s economy, such as uncertainty over global economic and market developments.

The remarks calling for keeping ultra-easy policy echo those of fellow board member Seiji Adachi on Wednesday, and underscore the BOJ’s caution over dialling back its massive stimulus programme too hastily.

Under yield curve control (YCC), the BOJ sets a -0.1pc target for short-term interest rates and caps the 10-year bond yield around 0% to reflate growth and inflation.

With inflation exceeding its target, markets are simmering with speculation the BOJ will soon tweak YCC due to criticism the policy is distorting market pricing and crushing financial institutions’ profit margins.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed the need to keep monetary policy ultra-loose until there is more evidence wages will keep rising next year, helping Japan sustainably hit the 2pc inflation target.

However, Powell in the US said, “We have been seeing the effects of our policy tightening on demand in the most interest-rate–sensitive sectors of the economy” such as housing.

“It will take time, however, for the full effects of monetary restraint to be realized, especially on inflation,” Powell said, a fact that has made it increasingly difficult for officials to judge if they have raised interest rates high enough yet to reach their inflation goal, or need to restrain the economy further.