Ueda is in the Diet, taking questions.

  • Says monetary policy is aimed at impacting inflation, not the yen rate
  • will examine the impact of movement of the yen on the economy
  • FX moves could have a big impact on the economy and prices, and so the impact of FX volatility could be bigger than in the past
  • BOJ does not seek to directly control FX rates with monetary policy
  • FX moves are among various factors that affect the economy and prices
  • weak yen pushes up import costs, has an impact on the the economy in other ways, such as via demand
  • the Bank of Japan may need to respond via monetary policy if such impact for yen moves affects trend inflation
  • we expect trend inflation to gradually head towards 2%
  • We will adjust monetary policy as appropriate if trend inflation heads toward 2% as we project, or if we see risk of inflation overshooting our forecast
BOJ Ueda

USD/JPY is little changed after Ueda, and Suzuki a bit earlier. Circa 154.75.