Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has suggested it would be possible to start normalizing monetary policy if the BOJ became confident in a pick-up in inflation for next year.
For now, underlying inflation remains below 2%, and the BOJ’s outlook is for price increases to slow toward the end of the year, Ueda said Wednesday — without specifying whether he was talking about the fiscal year that ends next March.
"From there on, we are forecasting some increase in the rate of inflation into ’24 — but, we are less confident about the second part,” he said at the European Central Bank’s annual retreat in the Portuguese hilltop resort of Sintra. "If we become reasonably sure that the second part is going to happen, that could be a good reason for a policy change.”