The Bank of Japan (BOJ) returned to its very succinct policy statement at its scheduled Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM) on Thu (31 Oct) as the BOJ took a unanimous decision to keep its monetary policy guidelines for money market operations unchanged, in line with market expectations but against our projection for a 25-bps rate hike, UOB Group’s economist Alvin Liew notes.

Policy unchanged but reinstated policy outlook in Outlook Report

“The Bank of Japan (BOJ) at its scheduled Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM) on 31 Oct, took a unanimous decision to keep its monetary policy guidelines for money market operations unchanged. This was in line with market expectations but against our projection for a 25-bps rate hike.”

“While the BOJ did not provide any forward guidance in the latest Oct MPM statement, the pledge to continue to increase rates if the BOJ’s outlook is realized reappeared in the Oct Outlook Report (The Bank’s View) after being left out in the preceding Sep MPM statement.”