BOJ Likely to Raise Key Rate in April, Ex-Board Member Says

The Bank of Japan is likely to seize on a raft of new data available in April as an opportunity to raise its benchmark interest rate, looking past rumblings in the market over the possibility of a move in March, according to a former BOJ board member.

“A rate hike in March would entail risk, as it would be based on expectations, not confirmation,” Seiji Adachi said Monday in an interview. “They’ll have a lot of data they can use to confirm improvement in underlying inflation in April.”