BOJ Likely to Judge Underlying Inflation Reached 2 Pct

Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan is highly likely to conclude at its next policymaking meeting from Thursday that the rate of the country's underlying inflation, excluding temporary factors, has reached the BOJ's 2 pct target.

The BOJ set the target in January 2013 and has made efforts to attain it with massive monetary easing. The central bank will aim to stabilize the inflation rate at 2 pct once the target is met.

At the two-day meeting of its Policy Board, the BOJ is expected to keep its policy interest rate unchanged.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has said that the underlying inflation rate is getting very close to 2 pct. Behind his view are active corporate efforts to reflect higher materials and personnel costs in their product and service prices as well as growing demand related to artificial intelligence.

The BOJ has estimated that the 2 pct target would be met in the second half of fiscal 2026 or in fiscal 2027.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]