BOJ’s Ueda ‘can’t tolerate’ underlying inflation further over 2%

Kazuo Ueda said Friday that he “can’t tolerate” underlying inflation rising further above 2%, reinforcing expectations for policymakers to raise interest rates further in coming months. He was responding to a question whether price gains nearing the BOJ’s target would have any impact on policy management. The BOJ governor was speaking two weeks ahead of the bank’s next policy decision, with investors and economists currently anticipating no change at that gathering.

Next week, Japan’s latest inflation report is expected to show overall prices rose 2.1% in September from a year before, with costs excluding fresh food also up 2.1% and prices subtracting both fresh food and energy 2.3% higher.