- Feels that BOJ must respond to the fact that headline inflation has exceeded 2% for a while now
- Initial fear over impact of tariffs has diminished
- Tankan report indicates tariffs have not caused significant slowdown in Japan's economy
- Expects Japan's consumption to continue increasing moderately
- Was particularly worried about risk of big market volatility from US tariffs
- But US economy has averted a downturn and yen is weakening rather than strengthening
- Conditions are falling in place where second-round effects of inflation could broaden
- BOJ must gradually "shift gears" in several stages when conducting monetary policy
He continues to push a more hawkish agenda here after being one of two dissenters in proposing for a rate hike last month. The break in the norm from Takata stands out the most as he has been thought to hold views closely aligned to BOJ governor Ueda. So as it turns out, not really. He's not being explicit about pushing for a rate hike but from the message here, it is clear he will more than likely do so again. That being said, he does say that the BOJ bond tapering process needs to be cautious and take more time.
