BoJ’s Summary of Opinions: Members saw the need to maintain ultra-easy monetary policy for now

Bank of Japan (BoJ) published the Summary of Opinions from its December monetary policy meeting, with the key findings noted below.

One member said must patiently maintain monetary easing

One member said must confirm sustainable, stable achievement of price target is foreseen in order to end negative rate, YCC.

One member said must scrutinize wage, price moves under YCC given strong upward pressure on prices likely stabilized.

One member said even if next spring’s wage hikes are considerably higher than expected, risk that this will cause underlying inflation to significantly exceed 2% is small.

One member said we are not in situation where we would fall behind the curve in raising rates, even if we decided to wait after seeing wage talk outcomes next spring.

One member said from perspective of maintaining confidence in its ability to conduct monetary policy in exit phase, it is important for BoJ to provide communication on central banks’ balance sheet.

One member said momentum toward wage hike heightening compared with last year.