Timing of Japan’s first rate hike in 17 years ‘a little odd’ says expert economist

Economist and S&P Global’s former vice chairman Paul Sheard says the timing of Japan’s rate hike in 17 years is a “little odd.” Japan’s central bank scrapped its negative interest rate and has begun to unwind one of the world’s most aggressive monetary easing programmes, for the first time since 2007. “The Bank of Japan has made the judgement that now is sufficient confidence that it can make this move,” Mr Sheard told Sky News Australia Business Editor Edward Boyd. “The timing though is a little bit odd – in the sense that if they had waited until April, that’s when they have their major inflation reports. “It would have given them an extra month to observe whether these Spring wage negotiations were coming through as expected. “So, they were a little bit early.”