Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has plenty of data to support the case for raising the benchmark rate in December, an outcome that would mark the first tightening of policy three times in a calendar year since the peak of Japan’s asset bubble in 1989.
The governor appears determined to weigh his options until the last minute before the Dec. 19 decision. He’ll sift through forthcoming numbers, including the central bank’s tankan corporate survey on Dec. 13, and monitor the Federal Reserve’s own rate decision due several hours before the BOJ’s board sets policy.
Still, expectations of a near-term move are rising. Ueda reiterated in an interview published Saturday that authorities will raise rates if the economy performs in line with projections, and he went a step further by saying the timing for a hike is "nearing” precisely because forecasts have proved prescient. Inflation momentum has been sustained, businesses are planning to invest and wages are rising.
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