The Bank of Japan's governor's speech leans towards a "hawkish" stance, indicating that if the economy develops as expected, interest rates will continue to rise, with specific decisions to be made after assessing the impact of this rate hike

The Governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda, stated at a monetary policy press conference this afternoon Beijing time that the Japanese economy is somewhat weak but is gently recovering. If the economy and prices develop as expected, and with the improvement of the economy and prices, the Bank of Japan will continue to raise the policy interest rate.

After this rate hike, Japan's benchmark interest rate has risen from 0.50% to 0.75%, marking the highest level since 1995 and officially signaling Japan's departure from the era of extremely low interest rates that lasted for 30 years. In response, Ueda said, "The short-term interest rate being at a 30-year high has no special significance, and we will closely monitor the impact of the latest interest rate changes."

Regarding future plans, Ueda stated, "The pace of monetary adjustments will depend on the economic, price, and financial outlook. There is still a certain distance to the lower bound of the neutral interest rate range. Currently, we do not see the strong tightening effects that previous rate hikes produced. We will decide whether to raise rates again after assessing the impact of the increase to 0.75% on the economy and prices. If wage increases continue to be transmitted to prices, a rate hike is indeed possible."