TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is unlikely to ease policy further for the moment as it gauges the impact of its surprise adoption of a negative interest rate, a move that roiled markets, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday.
Given a variety of changing external factors, "I think the BOJ wouldn't take further action right now," Koichi Hamada, special adviser to the Cabinet, told Reuters in an interview. "Probably it will be a wise decision."
Although policymakers are concerned about headwinds to Japan's fragile recovery, the BOJ is expected to hold off cutting interest rates further on Tuesday, sources said last week, as the central bank scrambles to soothe market jitters caused when it drove a policy rate below zero in January for the first time.