BoJ Minutes: To keep raising rates if economy, prices move in line with its forecast

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) board members shared their views on the monetary policy outlook on Thursday, per the BoJ Minutes of the July meeting.     

Key quotes

Many members said the US-Japan trade deal reduced uncertainty in the outlook, but tariffs still need close scrutiny for their impact on the economy and prices.
One member said the baseline scenario of temporary stagnation in growth and underlying inflation was unchanged.
Another member stressed the BOJ must scrutinise the impact of its January rate hike.
Members agreed the BOJ is expected to keep raising rates if the economy and prices move in line with forecasts.
One member said more data is needed before policy decisions, as US monetary policy and FX could shift quickly depending on US inflation and jobs.
One member argued the BOJ should move the policy rate closer to neutral as inflation strengthens and the output gap closes.
Another member said BoJ should raise rates when possible as Japan's policy rate is below level deemed neutral, shouldn't be too cautious and miss opportunity to hike.
One member said BoJ can exit current wait-and-see mode on rate hike as soon as this year if U.S. economy resilient, impact on Japan's economy proves limited.

Market reaction to the BoJ Minutes 

At the time of writing, USD/JPY was up 0.76% on the day at 148.75.