After decades of weak prices and feeble economic growth, Japan appears close to achieving stable inflation with solid wage growth, enabling the BOJ to push borrowing costs up toward levels seen in other major economies.
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will size up the need to raise interest rates on Friday amid heightened expectations of a hike — and barring a market shock triggered by Donald Trump’s first few days in the White House.
While the rest of the central banking world has been focusing on the pace of cuts, especially those at the Federal Reserve, Ueda and his board are still heading in the other direction as they look to gradually pull Japan back in the direction of conventional policy settings.
