April BOJ Board Shifts Hawkish, Considers Additional Rate Hikes

At the April policy meeting, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) board members expressed a hawkish stance, with discussions centering around the need to incrementally raise interest rates to avert the potential risk of an inflation overshoot. The talks align with Governor Kazuo Ueda's recent indication of possible multiple rate hikes in the future. A particular viewpoint raised during the meeting was that the BOJ might need to consider moderate rate increases to avoid abrupt and significant hikes once the inflation target is achieved.

The BOJ maintained its interest rates near zero while presenting new quarterly projections, suggesting that inflation is expected to hover around the 2% mark through early 2017. This projection is seen as a signal of the BOJ's preparedness to adjust borrowing costs upwards later in the year if the inflation target appears to be sustainably met.