Bank of Japan board members will likely discuss whether to tweak forward guidance along with the yield curve control mechanism when they gather later this month, according to a former executive director in charge of monetary policy.
"Japan’s long-term yields have already risen to 0.8%,” said Kazuo Momma, currently an executive economist at Mizuho Research & Technologies, in an interview Thursday. "Even if it’s not stuck at the ceiling of 1%, it will be a topic of discussion whether the current ceiling would be reasonable if there’s more upward pressure going forward.”
When they met in July, BOJ officials responded to upside risks to inflation by essentially raising the upper limit for 10-year bond yields — the first surprise move under Gov. Kazuo Ueda. Momma said that while it’s not his base-case expectation, the board could take similar action again due to a recent rise in yields, the yen’s slide and inflation consistently coming in stronger than expected.