Bank of Japan board members discussed the need to stay cautious at a policy meeting last week, where the bank ended its massive easing program with Japan’s first interest rate increase since 2007, according to a summary of opinions from the gathering.
"The bank would need to emphasize its cautious stance in the case of terminating the negative interest rate policy,” one member noted, according to the summary released Thursday. "Japan’s economy is not in a state where rapid policy interest rate hikes are necessary.”
The summary indicates Gov. Kazuo Ueda and his fellow board members are in favor of taking a slow approach to rate hikes even after the board embarked on the policy normalization process. That stance is likely to keep weighing on the yen. Government officials ramped up warnings against speculative trading in currencies after the yen sank Wednesday to a 34-year low.