Overview
- Minutes from the Sept. 18–19 meeting show the board kept the policy rate at 0.5% after rejecting two proposals to raise it to 0.75%.
- Policymakers broadly judged real interest rates to be very low and indicated they would likely proceed with gradual increases if projections hold.
- Several members favored waiting for more concrete evidence, citing wages, corporate earnings and the upcoming Tankan survey, and warned against surprising markets.
- The record highlights high uncertainty around global trade policy and possible effects from U.S. tariffs, though some members said the impact has been smaller than expected with exporters buffered by a weak yen.
- The BOJ left rates unchanged again in October, and Governor Kazuo Ueda has signaled a hike could come as soon as December while underlying inflation is assessed for stability around 2%.