BOJ Deputy Governor Uchida's comments at news conference

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 31-year high on Tuesday, marking another landmark step in normalising monetary policy as it focused on taming price pressures from the energy shock caused by the Iran war.

The hike was the first since December and aligns the BOJ with other central banks shifting towards tighter policy to combat inflation, including the European Central Bank.

Following are excerpts from Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida's comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:

BOJ SEES OIL SUPPLY UNCERTAINTY DESPITE U.S.-IRAN PROGRESS

"Compared with our previous meeting in April, the U.S. and Iran have signed a memorandum. That is a welcome move. Having said that, there is uncertainty on the pace of improvement in distribution (of oil)."

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 2:44 AM.