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BOJ holds rates as inflation aligns with 2% target for first time since 2013
The central bank said underlying inflation has reached its target and signaled more rate hikes as it kept borrowing costs at a 31-year high.
On Dec. 19, 2025, the Bank of Japan held interest rates at 1.25%, the highest level since 1995, declaring inflation "generally consistent" with its 2% target for the first time since 2013.
Core inflation reached 2.1% in September, exceeding expectations, while Japan's inflation-adjusted wages rose for the eighth consecutive month in August, climbing 1.5% from a year earlier.
Board member Hajime Takata dissented from the 8-1 decision, seeking a rate hike to 1.5%, while a CNBC survey of 16 economists anticipated the BOJ would set the stage for future hikes.
Thirteen respondents expect the BOJ to reach a terminal rate of 1.75% to 2% by mid-2027, as Japan grapples with a weak yen and high energy prices driving inflation.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stated earlier this month that Japan was "on the cusp of shifting to a period of sustained inflation," though experts claim Takaichi administration energy subsidies are currently restraining consumer price index figures.
The Japanese central bank estimates for the first time that it has reached its inflation target of 2%, set more than 13 years ago to get the country out of deflation.
(Tokyo=Yonhap News) Correspondent Lee Do-yeon = The Bank of Japan, the country's central bank, [set] the short-term policy rate, its base interest rate, at the current 'around 1.25%' at its monetary policy meeting on the 30th...