TOKYO — The Bank of Japan’s uphill campaign to normalize monetary policy has recently received much needed help from two sources: labor unions that have learned to be more assertive and a new American president critical of the yen’s persistent weakness.
It has been a year since the central bank lifted interest rates for the first time in 17 years. Its next monetary policy meeting will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The BOJ is widely expected to hold rates steady, following a quarter-point increase to 0.5% from 0.25% at its last meeting in January. Still, the market is intensely focused on how the central bank will go about normalizing a monetary policy that has kept interest rates at or below 0.5% for the last three decades.
