The Bank of Japan has issued this statement:

At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan decided, by unanimous vote, to set the following guideline for money market operations for the intermeeting period:

The Bank will encourage the uncollaterised overnight call to remain at around 0.25 per cent.

Japan's economy has recovered moderately, although some weakness has been seen in part. Overseas economies have grown moderately on the whole.

Exports and industrial production have been more or less flat. With corporate profits improving, business fixed investment has been on a moderate increasing trend. Private consumption has been on a moderate increasing trend despite the impact of price rises and other factors. Housing investment has been relatively weak. Public investment has been more or less flat. Financial conditions have been accommodative.

On the price front, the year-on-year rate of increase in the consumer price index (CPI, all items less fresh food) has been in the range of 2.5-3.0 percent recently, as services prices have continued to rise moderately, reflecting factors such as wage increases, although the effects of a pass-through to consumer prices of cost increases led by the past rise in import prices have waned. Inflation expectations have risen moderately.

Japan's economy is likely to keep growing at a pace above its potential growth rate, with overseas economies continuing to grow moderately and as a virtuous cycle from income to spending gradually intensifies against the background of factors such as accommodative financial conditions.

While the effects of pass-through to consumer prices of cost increases led by the past rise in import prices are expected to wane, the year-on-year rate of increase in CPI (all items less food) is projected to be pushed up through fiscal 2025 by factors such as a dissipation of the effects of the government's measures pushing down CPI inflation.

Meanwhile, underlying CPI inflation is expected to increase gradually, since it is projected that the output gap will improve and that medium- to long-term inflation expectations will rise with a virtuous cycle between wages and prices continuing to intensify.

In the second half of the projection period of the July 2024 Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices, it is likely to be at a level that is generally consistent with the price stability target.

Concerning risks to the outlook, there remain high uncertainties surrounding Japan's economic activity and prices, including developments in overseas economic activity and prices, developments in commodity prices, and domestic firms' wage- and price-setting behaviour.

Under these circumstances, it is necessary to pay due attention to developments in financial and foreign exchange markets and their impact on Japan's economic activity and prices. In particular, with firms' behaviour shifting more toward raising wages and prices recently, exchange rate developments are, compared to the past, more likely to affect prices.