Some Bank of Japan policymakers saw consumer inflation briefly accelerating toward their 2% target as price pressures build up on changing corporate price-setting behavior, a summary of opinions at the bank's January meeting showed Wednesday.
Many board members, however, stressed the need to maintain ultraloose monetary policy to support a fragile economy facing fresh risks from a spike in omicron coronavirus cases, the summary showed.
"There's a chance year-on-year growth in consumer inflation may briefly approach 2%. If that happens, what's important is to look at facts behind the rise and whether they're sustainable," one of the BOJ's nine board members was quoted as saying.