Japan’s Central Bank Seen Raising Policy Rate to 1% in June Instead of July

Oxford Economics analyst Shigeto Nagai said the Bank of Japan was likely to raise its policy rate to 1% in June rather than July, from 0.75%. According to Jin10, Nagai said the central bank was unlikely to delay a rate hike amid rising global inflation concerns and market expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates over the next year. Nagai, head of Japan economics research at Oxford Economics, said postponing a hike would disappoint financial markets and could lead to further depreciation of the yen. He added that uncertainty stemming from conflict in the Middle East was a key reason to approach rate increases cautiously, because Japan is relatively sensitive to shocks in its terms of trade.