The Bank of Japan’s upcoming monetary policy meeting on June 15-16 just got a lot more interesting, and not because of the rate decision itself. Governor Kazuo Ueda is in the hospital, and Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida will be the one standing at the podium afterward to explain what comes next.
What’s happening at the BOJ
Ueda was hospitalized around June 10 for treatment of an infected liver cyst. He’s expected to miss the June meeting entirely, though a return for the subsequent July 30-31 session remains on the table.
In his absence, the BOJ’s leadership duties are being split. Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino will chair the policy board during the actual meeting. Uchida draws the arguably harder job: leading the post-meeting press conference, where every word gets parsed by traders looking for signals about future rate moves.
The rate decision itself appears largely settled. Market analysts are anticipating a 25-basis-point increase that would bring Japan’s short-term policy rate from 0.75% to 1%. That number carries historical weight. It would represent the highest Japanese interest rate since 1995.
