June 16 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 31-year high on Tuesday, marking another landmark step in normalising monetary policy as it focused on taming price pressures from the energy shock caused by the Iran war.
The hike was the first since December and aligns the BOJ with other central banks shifting towards tighter policy to combat inflation, including the European Central Bank.
Following are excerpts from Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida's comments at his post-meeting news
conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:
BOJ SEES OIL SUPPLY UNCERTAINTY DESPITE U.S.-IRAN PROGRESS
"Compared with our previous meeting in April, the U.S. and Iran have signed a memorandum. That is a welcome move. Having said that, there is uncertainty on the pace of improvement in distribution (of oil)."
ON UPSIDE INFLATION RISKS
"Compared with the previous meeting, the risk of a sharp deterioration in the economy has diminished. On the other hand, price rises are broadening, and there is a risk that underlying inflation may deviate from our target."
"With underlying inflation approaching 2%, it's important to ensure we achieve our target stably."
ON WAGE-PRICE DYNAMICS
"Wage growth is moving roughly in line with levels consistent with our price target. The mechanism by which wages and prices rise in tandem is becoming embedded."
ON DISTANCE FROM NEUTRAL RATE
"Even our latest estimates are made in a very wide band, which makes it hard for us to use this in setting policy. We'll have to gauge the neutral level by looking at how our rate hikes affect Japan's financial environment."
ON WEAK YEN
"We're always watching currency moves closely. We don't directly target exchange rates in guiding monetary policy. But we engage in monetary policy discussions on the view that currency moves have a crucial impact on economic and price developments. With companies' wage- and price-setting behaviour becoming more active, the pass-through (of the weak yen) may have a bigger impact on underlying inflation."
ON COORDINATION WITH GOVERNMENT
"Today's decision was based on the need to address broadening price rises and the risk of underlying inflation deviating from our target. This would help Japan's economy achieve sustainable growth and thus is consistent with what the government is doing."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
