Bank of Japan board member Naoki Tamura called for raising interest rates as he sees increasing upside inflation risks, a view that’s consistent with his stance last month when he dissented from keeping policy steady.
"I believe that the bank is now in the phase of deciding on raising its policy interest rate,” Tamura said Thursday in a speech to local business leaders in Okinawa. "Thereby adjusting the degree of monetary accommodation and setting the rate a little closer to the neutral interest rate.”
Tamura spoke in public for the first time after he proposed raising the benchmark rate at the September policy meeting. His latest remarks suggest little shift in his stance even after Japan’s political landscape turned murky in recent weeks, prompting many economists to lower expectations for a rate change this month.
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