Bank of Japan board members expect inflation in Japan will accelerate toward the bank's 2% target, due to higher energy prices, but have raised doubt about the sustainability of that upward momentum, a summary of opinions at a March policy meeting showed Tuesday.
Some members warned of downside risks to prices and the broader economy from recent commodity inflation at the March 17 to 18 meeting, where the policy board decided to maintain its ultraloose monetary policy amid uncertainty stemming from the crisis in Ukraine.
The BOJ is the only major central bank to not yet normalize policy, diverging from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which went ahead with its first rate hike since 2018, and the European Central Bank.