Bank of Japan (BoJ) policy board member Asahi Noguchi emphasized on Saturday the need for sustained wage increases in order to achieve the inflation target.
Key quotes
“It’s true the impact of elevated global inflation is reaching Japan’s economy with consumer inflation exceeding the BOJ’s 2% target since the spring of 2022.”
“But the rise (in inflation) is mostly due to cost-push factors amid higher import prices,”
“To achieve our 2% inflation target, we must see price rises backed by sustained wage increases.”
“While annual spring wage negotiations this year achieved wage hikes unseen in 30 years, we’ve only just reached a stage where the possibility of achieving our target has come into sight,”
Market reaction
At the time of writing, the USD/JPY pair is trading around 146.43, down 0.32% on the day.
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