BOJ may be forced to hike rates rapidly if inflation accelerates, board member Masu says

Business Recorder reported that Bank of Japan board member Kazuyuki Masu said on Thursday the central bank could be compelled to lift borrowing costs quickly should inflation speed up. He pointed to accommodative financial conditions across the country, which form the backdrop to that warning about the bank's next moves. In a speech, he argued that the bank must keep raising its policy rate.

According to Masu, the current policy rate sits solidly within the bank's estimated range for the neutral rate, and that position calls for further tightening. He argued that this leaves room to shift the rate quickly up or down, depending on how the economy performs. The remarks came from one board member in a speech, and the report presents them as his view rather than a formal bank decision.