BOJ Policymakers Vowed Not to Raise Rates Rapidly at Sept. Meeting

Tokyo, Oct. 1 (Jiji Press)--Many Bank of Japan policymakers at a meeting last month said that the central bank should not rush to raise interest rates further, a summary of their opinions released by the BOJ Tuesday showed.

"In the current phase, the bank should patiently maintain the current accommodative financial conditions," one of the BOJ's Policy Board members said at their Sept. 19-20 meeting, according to the summary.

One board member said that given heightened uncertainties about financial markets and the U.S. economy's outlook, "it is important for the bank to carefully assess" further developments.

Stock prices and foreign exchange rates fluctuated wildly after the board voted to raise interest rates in a meeting at the end of July.

A Policy Board member told the September meeting that the BOJ "will not raise its policy interest rate when financial and capital markets are unstable." One member sought to "make further adjustments to the degree of monetary accommodation when such uncertainties decline."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]