Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's recent remark signaling opposition to interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan has taken the financial market by surprise, as he had been viewed as a proponent of rate hikes.
The market is being perplexed by the statement by Ishiba, who had been critical of Abenomics, the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy mix, which included massive monetary easing.
Ishiba had long voiced criticisms regarding the side effects of the BOJ's prolonged large-scale monetary easing, saying that "the Japanese economy will not be cured with unprecedented monetary accommodation."
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