The Bank of Japan left its policy rate unchanged on Friday but raised inflation forecasts and said it stands ready to further raise borrowing costs to guard against mounting inflation risks. At the two-day meeting ending Friday the BOJ voted 8-1 to keep the short-term policy rate at 1.25%; one member dissented, advocating a rise to 1.5%. For the first time since adopting the 2% target in 2013, the BOJ judged inflation to be "generally in line with the 2% target." The bank also said it will accel

The Bank of Japan left its policy rate unchanged on Friday but raised inflation forecasts and said it stands ready to further raise borrowing costs to guard against mounting inflation risks. At the two-day meeting ending Friday the BOJ voted 8-1 to keep the short-term policy rate at 1.25%; one member dissented, advocating a rise to 1.5%. For the first time since adopting the 2% target in 2013, the BOJ judged inflation to be "generally in line with the 2% target." The bank also said it will accelerate market sales of ETFs, raising the annual sales pace on a book-value basis from about 3.3 tln yen to about 8.6 tln yen.