The BOJ’s monetary policy meeting on January 24 is widely expected to deliver a 0.25% interest rate hike.
The market has already fully priced in this outcome following Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino’s comment in his January 14 speech that “At the monetary policy meeting to be held next week, the board will have discussion to decide whether to raise the policy rate or not,” along with Governor Kazuo Ueda’s similar remarks on January 15 and 16, stating “we would like to discuss and decide whether to raise rates at next week’s monetary policy meeting.”
The USD/JPY, which had been trading around 158 yen until January 14, has since corrected to around 156 yen.
Significantly, the Ishiba administration appears to have given the BOJ the green light.
