Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda said she was keeping a close eye on possible second-round effects on underlying inflation from recent rises in the price of rice, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
In an interview conducted on Monday, Koeda said it was inappropriate to predict now how soon the BOJ could resume interest rate hikes due to uncertainty over the economic outlook, Bloomberg reported.
"Recent hard data on inflation shows prices of rice and other food items are rising more than expected compared with the time of the BOJ's May meeting, so I am watching developments carefully," Koeda was quoted as saying.
Such cost-push pressures from higher food costs are the main drivers of Japan's consumer inflation, which is moving around 3% recently, she said.
The BOJ's weighted median average, which is a key measurement of underlying inflation, remains short of the central bank's 2% target, Koeda was quoted as saying.
But Koeda added she was "keeping an eye out" on how price moves in Japan's staple rice could affect households' inflation expectations and underlying inflation, Bloomberg reported.
