Follow-Up: Bank of Japan Holds Rate at 1.25% in 8-1 Vote as Underlying Inflation Broadly Reaches 2% Target for First Time Since 2013
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended its two-day policy meeting on October 30 by keeping its short-term policy rate unchanged at 1.25%, the level reached after its September hike, a roughly three-decade high. The decision passed by an 8-1 vote, with board member Hajime Takata dissenting in favor of raising the rate to 1.5%.
The BOJ also revised up its inflation outlook, lifting its price forecast for fiscal 2027 to 2.6%, and judged that underlying inflation has broadly reached its 2% price stability target. According to Dow Jones Newswires, it is the first time since 2013, when the BOJ signed an accord with the government to defeat deflation and adopted the 2% target, that underlying inflation has been assessed as broadly on target.
Governor Kazuo Ueda told a news conference that what matters is achieving 2% inflation stably and sustainably. "In that sense we are not quite there yet," he said. "The key is for underlying inflation to become firmly anchored at 2%."
Markets are now pricing in about an 80% chance of another rate hike at the BOJ's December meeting. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said after the decision that she expects the central bank to manage monetary policy appropriately to sustain stable 2% inflation, while declining to comment on the BOJ's view that it has broadly met its price goal.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于东京日本桥的日本银行总部本馆。Suicasmo 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Bank of Japan head office main building in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Photo by Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-30Follow-Up: Bank of Japan Holds Rate at 1.25% in 8-1 Vote as Underlying Inflation Broadly Reaches 2% Target for First Time Since 2013This story
