The Bank of Japan Governor's speech was "hawkish," stating that if the economy develops as expected, interest rates will continue to be raised, with specific decisions to be made after assessing the impact of the current rate hike.

BlockBeats News, on December 19, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda stated at this afternoon's monetary policy press conference in the East 8th District that while Japan's economy shows some signs of weakness, it is moderately recovering. If the economy and prices develop as expected, and as both improve, the Bank of Japan will continue to raise policy interest rates.

After this rate hike, Japan's benchmark interest rate has risen from 0.50% to 0.75%, reaching its highest level since 1995 and marking Japan's official departure from the ultra-low interest rate era that lasted for 30 years. Regarding this, Kazuo Ueda commented: "There is no special significance to short-term interest rates being at a 30-year high; we will closely monitor the impact of the latest rate changes."

Regarding future plans, Kazuo Ueda stated: "The pace of monetary adjustment will depend on the outlook for the economy, prices, and finance. There is still some distance to the lower bound of the neutral interest rate range. Currently, there is no sign of the strong tightening effect seen in previous rate hikes. We will decide whether to raise rates again after assessing the impact of the increase to 0.75% on the economy and prices. If wage increases continue to be passed on to prices, further rate hikes are indeed possible."