Bank of Japan governor Ueda hospitalised, will miss June meeting

[TOKYO] Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has been hospitalised for medical treatment and will miss the June 15 to 16 policy meeting, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates next week to levels unseen in three decades to counter mounting inflationary pressures from the Iran war.

It is the first time for the governor, who chairs the BOJ’s meeting, to miss a policy-setting meeting since it began deciding policy under the current arrangement in 1998.

The governor will submit a written statement on his view on policy but will not participate in next week’s vote, the BOJ said in a statement.

Ueda, 74, is expected to remain in hospital for about two weeks getting treatment for an infected liver cyst, work remotely and attend the next July 30 to 31 policy meeting, the central bank said.

Complicated communication of future steps

His hospitalisation is unlikely to affect next week’s decision, with a rate hike widely anticipated following the BOJ’s recent hawkish signals and a board leaning increasingly toward an imminent tightening, said Mari Iwashita, executive rates strategist at Nomura Securities.

“But it will certainly complicate the BOJ’s communication at a time markets are already shifting attention to the pace and timing of rate hikes beyond June,” she said.

“With Ueda’s absence, the BOJ may decide not to send clear signals on the future rate path. Given uncertainty on how long it may take for the governor to fully recover, it’s also become more unclear on whether the BOJ would hike again this year.”

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Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino will preside over the rate review in place of Ueda, and the other deputy governor, Shinichi Uchida, is set to host the post-meeting press conference, the BOJ said.

The announcement follows one the BOJ made in late May that its Deputy Governor Uchida had been discharged from hospital after recovering from leukaemia treatment. REUTERS