BOJ Members Cautious over Further Policy Adjustment: Minutes

Tokyo, Nov. 6 (Jiji Press)--Members of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board at a meeting in September voiced caution over further monetary policy adjustment after an interest rate hike decision in July, minutes of the meeting showed Wednesday.

One member said at the Sept. 19-20 Policy Board meeting that the BOJ would not raise its policy interest rate under financial and capital market instability, according to the minutes released by the central bank.

"In the current phase, the BOJ should patiently maintain the current accommodative financial conditions to support economic activity," another Policy Board member said.

Japanese stocks plummeted after the BOJ decided at its monetary policy meeting in late July to raise its target for the unsecured overnight call rate, the country's benchmark short-term interbank lending rate, to around 0.25 pct from the range of around zero to 0.1 pct.

Many Policy Board members said at the September meeting that the rate hike took the market by surprise, according to the minutes.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]