Bank of Japan Policy Board members confirmed at their meeting last month that the central bank would adjust interest rates gradually, with some expressing concern about growing inflationary pressure, minutes showed Wednesday.
The members "concurred that their basic thinking remained unchanged on the monetary policy stance for the immediate future," the minutes for the meeting May 16 and 17 showed. The BOJ "would adjust the level of interest rates gradually in accordance with improvements in the economic and price situation," they said.
The BOJ also released the minutes for the April 27 meeting. The nine-member board voted unanimously at both meetings to keep the central bank's key interest rate steady at 0.50 percent.
During the May meeting, the members agreed that "there remained considerable uncertainty" about the pace of rise in the consumer price index in the immediate future although the pace would "rise gradually as a trend."
Some members expressed concern that "underlying inflationary pressure had been increasing steadily."