Institution: The Bank of Japan’s measures will depend on whether inflation spreads to areas other than energy, including beyond energy.

Golden Finance reports that on April 24th, economist Nobuyasu Atago from Rakuten Securities Economic Research Institute stated that the key focus of the Bank of Japan’s next move is how much the rise in energy prices caused by the Middle East conflict will trigger a chain reaction in other commodities and services. He expects the Bank of Japan to maintain the current stance at next week’s meeting because, in this kind of shock, the central bank should ensure the necessary funds are provided to those in need rather than raising interest rates. He said, “It is appropriate to delay interest rate hikes until the situation in the Strait of Hormuz moves toward normalization or the outlook for crude oil procurement becomes clearer.”(Jin10