Well, that seems to have been quite a short meeting. For some context, they were scheduled to meet at 0800 GMT (5pm Tokyo time) and it’s over and done with in less than 20 minutes. This is their first meeting since the snap election results, which resulted in a landslide victory for Takaichi and her ruling LDP party.
Ueda goes on to say that he won’t comment on the details of his talks with Takaichi. Adding that she made no specific policy request to him and the central bank.
The Japanese yen currency isn’t as pressured this time around as compared to their previous meeting in November. That especially since intervention risks are helping to keep traders in check since the end of January already.
If anything, I guess Takaichi might want to at least mention that in not wanting the BOJ to hike rates further; that is if policymakers at the central bank feel that they need to step in to prevent the yen currency from freefalling.
Considering the short meeting, I’m not sure if they would even go into much details about the upcoming spring wage negotiations and how that will impact the next steps at the BOJ. So, that will remain to be seen I guess.
In any case, Takaichi will have her chance to influence proceedings at the BOJ soon enough. That as the government has the opportunity to submit their choice of nominees in replacing two BOJ board members soon enough. More background on that can be found here: Japan to submit BOJ board nominee to parliament as early as this month – report
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.