Former BOJ official says Bank expected to end its negative interest rate policy in April

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BOJ seen ending negative rates in April, keep hiking next year</p><ul><li>
BOJ dismantled YCC in October, laying groundwork for next move
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Service prices already rising, BOJ just waiting for
evidence
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BOJ must keep hiking once short-term rates at zero</li></ul><p>Headlines via Reuters. Hayakawa spoke with Reuters in an interview.</p><p>More:</p><p>While the BOJ maintains its 0%
target for the 10-year bond yield under YCC, Hayakawa said the bank
"effectively dismantled" the framework in October by
re-defining what was a rigid 1% cap for the yield to a loose
reference. </p><ul><li>As the next step, the BOJ will likely raise short-term
rates to around zero from -0.1% in April, when more data becomes
available on next year's spring wage negotiations, he said. </li></ul><p>"Service
prices are already rising and prospects of seeing solid wage growth
next year are heightening. But the evidence (on wage growth) isn't
available yet" </p><ul><li>"The
BOJ is just waiting for more evidence" that inflation will
sustainably hit 2%, Hayakawa said. "Once that's available, BOJ
will end negative rates."</li></ul><p>More here:</p><ul><li><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-seen-ending-negative-rates-042945015.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">BOJ seen ending negative rates in April, keep hiking next year – ex-c.bank economist</a></li></ul><p>—</p><p>Hideo Hayakawa is a Senior Fellow at Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research and a former Bank of Japan Executive Director. He joined the Bank of Japan in 1977 and served as an Executive Director in 2009–13. </p><ul><li>During his career at the BOJ, he served in many research-related positions in the Research and Statistics Department and the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, including Director General of the Research and Statistics Department in 2001–07.</li></ul><p>If Hayakawa is on the right track this is positive for yen at the margin. </p>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.