Japan’s Ishiba tries to show agreement with BOJ Governor Ueda

(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sought to show that he is not pressuring the Bank of Japan over interest rate policy, saying he agreed with BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s view that there is still time to improve the situation assess the markets and economy before making any changes to tariffs.

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Speaking to reporters late Thursday, Ishiba’s latest comments marked another change in tone regarding the BOJ. They suggest Japan’s new leader is still figuring out how best to communicate with markets, trying to strike a balance between appearing to compromise the central bank’s independence and supporting monetary easing ahead of the general election found this month.

Ishiba noted that when the two met a day earlier, Ueda said monetary conditions remained very accommodative and the Bank of Japan had enough time to assess the impact of policies before making adjustments.

“That’s my understanding too,” Ishiba said.

Ishiba sparked a sharp fall in the yen on Wednesday after he said after his meeting with Ueda that Japan was not ready for higher borrowing costs for now, an unusually direct comment for a prime minister.

Before becoming leader, Ishiba had expressed support for the BOJ’s monetary policy normalization stance to shore up the weak yen, leading some in the market to believe he would favor further interest rate hikes by the central bank.

Ishiba’s predecessor Kishida also caused an uproar in the first days of his term in office with statements about a capital gains tax. Kishida later walked back those comments and became popular with investors for his policies, which helped drive Japanese stocks to all-time highs.

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