BOJ April Minutes Reveal Split Over Middle East Risks Ahead of June Hike
The majority of the Bank of Japan's board sought more time to examine the impact of the Middle East crisis on the country's economic activity and prices, according to the minutes of the April 27-28 monetary policy meeting released on Friday.Many members pointed out that, as the situation in the Middle East remained unclear, realizing the baseline scenario of the outlook for economic activity and prices was not as high as before, and it was difficult to assess at that point.The April minutes showed a 6-3 vote to hold the overnight call rate at 0.75%, with three dissenting members pushing for a 1.00% rate hike, as there were higher inflation risks and a greater impact of the rising energy costs.Some members said the central bank should raise interest rates more quickly if the Middle East conflict continued to avoid the risk of inflation becoming excessively high.One member said the BOJ should not hesitate to accelerate the pace of rate hikes, such as once every few months, the minutes showed.Most recently at its June meeting, the BOJ voted to lift the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 1%, marking the highest level since 1995.