BOJ governor Ueda: Underlying inflation is still somewhat below 2%

• Recent inflation driven mostly by cost-push factors
• Cost-push factors likely to dissipate in the middle to late this year
• BOJ to maintain accommodative policy to support price trend
• Mindful that FX moves have various effects on the economy
• But we do not conduct monetary policy targeting FX

Well, he doesn’t sound like he’s in that much of a hurry to keep hiking rates. But we’ll see. Things can change quickly as seen with the shift in narrative from his December remarks to the rate hike in January. USD/JPY is up 0.3% to 154.80 levels now.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.