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(CEP News) - On Thursday evening, the Bank of Japan released the minutes of its June 12 and 13 monetary policy meeting, where it was unanimously agreed that the current money market operation guidelines would be maintained and that the uncollateralized overnight call rate would be encouraged to remain unchanged at 0.5%.
In the minutes, the policy board members noted the economic slowdown in the U.S., as well as ongoing adjustments in the American housing market. The Bank of Japan minutes also noted the increasing rate of both headline inflation and CPI growth. Turning to Europe, it was highlighted that the euro zone economic growth rate was moderating, though ongoing, and that the year-over-year growth rate of HICP was accelerating. The BOJ minutes also noted the slowdown in the UK economy. Focusing on Japan, the central bank highlighted that export levels were still increasing, however, the rate of increase was diminishing. The Bank of Japan noted that investment growth was also slowing, while private consumption had remained robust due to rising household income. The monetary policy meeting concluded with the central bank deciding that the overnight call rate should remain unchanged and highlighted that the Japanese economic growth rate would likely slow due to high oil and energy prices. In the report, the monetary board stressed that further developments in foreign economies should be monitored. It was also decided that inflation expectations and price-setting behaviour in Japan would need to be monitored "even more closely." "Members concurred that the following thinking on the monetary policy stance for the future remained unchanged: the Bank would carefully assess the future outlook for economic activity and prices, closely considering the likelihood of its projections materializing as well as factors posing upside or downside risks, and would implement appropriate policies in an accordingly flexible manner," the minutes said. By Todd Wailoo,
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, edited by Sarah Sussman,
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