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2026-02-16 10:53:48
[Japan's Coalition Partners State: Government Should Not Intervene in Interest Rate Hikes, Need to Build a Resilient Economy] Yoshimura Hirofumi, representative of the Japan Restoration Party, stated on Sunday that the government should avoid intervening in monetary policy and instead focus on building a strong economy capable of withstanding the pain of interest rate hikes. As a partner in the ruling coalition, the Japan Restoration Party is pushing forward with a two-year suspension of the 8% food consumption tax and is considering using its large foreign exchange reserves as a source of revenue, mitigating speculation that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi might withdraw this commitment. Regarding the timing of the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes, Yoshimura stated that the central bank should decide based on a comprehensive assessment of market conditions, and politicians should not interfere with the specific details. He pointed out that although interest rate hikes may bring pain such as rising mortgage rates, given the current weakness of the yen, the central bank may raise rates, and the government needs to strengthen economic resilience through fiscal budgets and other means to cope with the impact.
