By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Bank of Japan policymakers debated mounting price pressures from a weak yen, with some warning of the risk of being “behind the curve” in dealing with too-high inflation, a summary of opinions at their January meeting showed on Monday.
“If overseas interest rate environments change this year, there is a risk that the bank may unintentionally fall behind the curve,” one member was quoted as saying, calling for the need to keep pulling Japan’s real interest rates out of negative territory.
While the risk of the BOJ falling behind the curve has not necessarily become evident, it is becoming more important to raise rates in a timely fashion, another opinion said.
At the January 22-23 meeting, the BOJ kept interest rates steady at 0.75%, having just hiked borrowing costs to the level in December. But the central bank retained its hawkish inflation forecasts and signaled readiness to keep raising still-low borrowing costs.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
