BOJ to Decide Next Week Whether to Raise Rates: Ueda

Tokyo, Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan will discuss and decide whether to raise interest rates at its policy-setting meeting next week, Governor Kazuo Ueda said Wednesday.

The economic policy of the administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, to be inaugurated Monday, and the trend of wage hikes in Japan's "shunto" spring labor-management negotiations will be "important points" for making a monetary policy decision, Ueda told a banking industry meeting.

Regarding wage hikes, Ueda said that comments made by leaders in various fields at the beginning of the year and the nationwide situation reported at last week's BOJ branch manager meeting were "mostly positive."

The BOJ's Policy Board will hold its next policy-setting meeting for two days from Jan. 23. The bank will release a quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report after the meeting.

"If economic and price trends continue to improve, we will raise the policy interest rate and adjust the degree of monetary easing accordingly," Ueda also said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]