(Reuters) -The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady on Thursday but repeated its pledge to continue increasing borrowing costs if the economy moves in line with its projections, shifting investor focus
to the prospect of a hike as soon as December.
While the central bank roughly maintained its long-term forecasts, it elaborated on overseas risks that may hurt Japan's recovery in a sign of its focus on growth concerns.
Following are excerpts from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters: IMPACT OF TRADE POLICIES
"There are various risks to the outlook. In particular, there remains high uncertainty on the impact of trade policies on overseas economic and price developments."
PROJECTIONS
"Our projections so far have not changed much from the previous report in July. The likelihood of our baseline projection materialising is heightening somewhat."
WAGES AND PRICES
"We would like to spend a bit more time scrutinising wages and price moves. We will have more data on how companies, hit by 15% tariffs, would respond and set wages including for next year.
"We would like to confirm whether wage and prices will gradually rise in tandem."
INFLATION
"Food inflation is moderating, while underlying inflation is rising moderately. The economy is moving in line with our baseline scenario, so we don't see ourselves as being behind the curve.
"We will continue to scrutinise developments in underlying inflation, and whether food price rises, if they persist, could cause upside or downside risks to the price outlook."
RATE HIKE
"As for the timing and viability of rate hikes, we don't have any preset idea."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
