(Reuters) – The Bank of Japan maintained ultra-loose monetary settings on Tuesday in a widely expected move, underscoring policymakers’ preference to await more clues on whether wages will rise enough to keep inflation durably around its 2% target.
Following are excerpts from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda’s comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:
CORPORATE WAGE POLICY
“The tankan showed labour conditions are tightening and corporate profits are increasing. Labour unions are demanding wage hikes exceeding those of this year. Executives of some big firms are commenting on prospects of higher wages… Our hearings, however, show many companies have yet to decide next year’s wage policy due to high economic uncertainties.”
WAGE-INFLATION CYCLE
“Some smaller firms appear to be struggling to pass on higher raw material and labour costs. The chance of trend inflation accelerating towards our price target is gradually heightening. But we still need to scrutinise whether a positive wage-inflation cycle will fall in place.”
COST- AND DEMAND-DRIVEN INFLATION
“The cost-driven inflation appears to be finally peaking. As for demand-driven inflation, service prices continue to be rising … Our view on the outlook for the latter remains unchanged.”
INFLATION TARGET
“The prospects for (sustainably achieving our price target) are gradually heightening. But in terms of whether the threshold would be met, we’d prefer to look at more data.”
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
