The woman likely to be Japan's next prime minister has suggested that she will be in charge when it comes to monetary policy, setting herself up for a battle with the markets and Japanese households already upset about inflation.

“It’s the government that bears responsibility for both fiscal and monetary policy,” Sanae Takaichi said after being elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday. Barring a last-minute challenge by the opposition — which is possible — she will become the prime minister of Japan within weeks.

Takaichi has long expressed pro-stimulus views, and her rise to power has rattled some economists and shaken a few markets on the possibility that Abenomics — the near-decade experiment in supereasy money and aggressive fiscal spending — will be making a return.

Her recent comments indicate that she will not be shy about leaning on the Bank of Japan to get the job done, and they come just as the central bank is set to take its next crucial step in moving away from superlow rates.

The yen has lost about 3% of its value against the dollar since she was elected party president and is trading at eight-month lows.

“The BOJ completely gave up any sense of autonomy back during the Kuroda era,” said Ke Long, an economist at The Tokyo Foundation, referring to Haruhiko Kuroda, the central bank governor known for his "bazooka" stimulus asset-purchase program.

“What Takaichi said just made clear what has long been true — the BOJ has no independence left,” Ke went on. “Before, the government might have tried to hide it a little, but now they’re openly saying it: The BOJ has no independence, and it has to follow orders.”

The BOJ is technically independent, but the government and the central bank agreed to increase cooperation to fight deflation and facilitate economic growth in 2013. Pressure can also be exerted indirectly on the central bank by politicians.

When asked about plans for revisiting the 2013 agreement, Takaichi said she wants to “carefully consider whether the current arrangement is truly the best one,” adding that the government and the BOJ “must move forward in step with one another.”

In the United States, the Federal Reserve has faced similar efforts to influence it, the most recent being U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to push for lower rates.

Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, said it’s true that the BOJ’s policy is often affected by the government, but the extent and nature of that influence varies depending on the administration in power.

Under Takaichi, that pressure might be more subtle but potent, he argues.

“Her rhetoric perhaps softened slightly compared to a year ago, but mostly in tone rather than substance — she didn’t say ‘Raising rates now would be stupid,’ but the gist was the same,” Kiuchi said. “She probably won’t be as crude about it as Donald Trump was with the Fed, but she might still apply pressure against rate hikes.”

“I think the BOJ is extremely wary right now,” Kiuchi went on. “They’re strongly concerned that their ongoing normalization process, including rate hikes, could be suppressed by political pressure.”

Kiuchi served on the BOJ’s Policy Board during the Kuroda years.

While Takaichi framed her remarks on Saturday as a call for close coordination, her interpretation of the 1997 Bank of Japan Act — which stipulates that the central bank must “maintain close communication with the government” — strikes Kiuchi as a distortion of the spirit of the law.

“The article states that when formulating monetary policy, the BOJ and the government must communicate sufficiently to ensure consistency with the government’s overall economic policy,” he said.

“Ultimately, the decision lies with the BOJ. When Takaichi says that policy direction is to be decided by the government, that’s just wrong,” Kiuchi added. “If the government were to dictate policy direction, it would effectively limit the BOJ’s independence. And that independence is the cornerstone of the law itself.”

On Saturday, Takaichi said it would be “premature” to assume Japan has completely escaped deflation “just because we are seeing cost-push inflation.” The nation should strive for “demand-pull inflation” driven by higher wages and stronger consumption, she said.

“I believe Japan’s economy is still right on the edge,” she said.

Takaichi is in a tough position. No matter what she does, she will be facing the same problem. This, Kiuchi believes, will push her toward moderation.

“Takaichi argues that rate hikes should be approached cautiously to support households facing high prices, but if that results in further yen depreciation, inflation could persist even longer — hurting consumers in the end,” Kiuchi said.

“If that contradiction becomes more widely recognized and she accepts it, excessive political interference in the BOJ may subside.”

Real wages have been falling for years in Japan as inflation has outpaced raises, leaving households pinching pennies to make ends meet. Inflation is now their No. 1 worry, with polls indicating that they have not been this concerned about prices since just after the oil shock of 1973.

Political uncertainty, Kiuchi said, may keep the BOJ in a wait-and-see mode, delaying any move until at least December.

“I don’t think the BOJ would simply give up on rate hikes — to do so would look like capitulating to political pressure, damaging its credibility,” Kiuchi said. “Still, government pressure could slow the pace of tightening. In fact, that’s already happening — October’s rate hike prospects have weakened considerably.”