Ex-BOJ Official Sees Chance Pay Results to Prompt March Hike
Last year, Okina was seen by some BOJ watchers as a potential candidate to become the bank’s first female deputy governor, but the two deputy positions wound up being filled by male veterans.
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/BloombergA former Bank of Japan official sees a chance the bank’s policy board will seize the opportunity to end its negative interest rate on Tuesday after early results of wage negotiations came in strong.
“Given the strong results of pay talks so far, I think there’s a possibility the BOJ will move in March,” Yuri Okina, now chair of the Japan Research Institute, said in an interview on Thursday. Previously, she saw an equal likelihood of the BOJ making the move either this month or in April. “There is a feeling now that the preconditions for policy normalization have been met,” said Okina.