Japan’s Kono Says BOJ Needs to Hike Rate to Fix Yen, Inflation

The Bank of Japan should raise its benchmark rate to support the yen and curb inflation, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and former digital transformation minister Kono Taro said, as political uncertainty clouds the outlook for economic policy.

“We need to fix the yen rate. In order to do that, the Bank of Japan needs to increase the interest rate,” Kono said Tuesday in an interview with Shery Ahn on Bloomberg TV. Kono prefers that his name be transcribed Japanese style, with his family name first. “If the Bank of Japan delays a rate increase, I think it would mean inflation will continue and everything we import would be higher,” he added.