• Believes that can anticipate a certain level of wage hike next year
  • But difficult to say if can achieve continuous cycle of wage hikes and price increases
  • Until achievement of inflation target is in sight, both YCC and NIRP will be in place
  • The order of end of either policy would depend on economic, financial trends at the time

It is obvious that we are angling towards a potential pivot come next March or April, once we get to the spring wage negotiations. But then again, this year's event was supposed to be the stepping stone already for a change and yet here we are. This has been a key reason why the yen has struggled so much during the course of the year.