The economy will keep slowing "for the time being" as the country's cycle of profits feeding into wages and consumer spending weakens temporarily, Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Toshiro Muto said Thursday.
The BOJ has no preset schedule for adjusting interest rates, Muto said in a speech in Sapporo. "With regard to specific policy actions, we would like to proceed with discretion based on an open-minded, forward-looking assessment of the economy and price situation," he said.
The central bank will refrain from raising the benchmark interest rate from 0.5 percent before Gov. Toshihiko Fukui's term expires in March, economists predict, as growth slows.