Japan's BOJ Governor Hospitalized; Market Watches Policy Meeting Amid Rate Hike Expectations

Huo Xing Finance reports that, as the Bank of Japan prepares for its policy meeting on June 15–16, an unexpected development has stirred market expectations regarding communication. On June 10, the Bank of Japan announced that its 74-year-old governor, Kazuo Ueda, has been urgently hospitalized due to an infected liver cyst and is expected to miss next week’s meeting, though he will submit a written statement outlining his position. Since the Bank of Japan established its current policy decision-making framework in 1998, no governor has ever missed a regular policy meeting. It should be noted that the current market consensus strongly anticipates a 25-basis-point rate hike, with the probability on Polymarket reaching 98%. If the Bank raises rates as expected, any guidance on the pace of future hikes could become a key variable in foreign exchange markets during the post-meeting press conference. According to analysts cited by Reuters and other media, if Governor Ueda’s health issues persist, it may create room for the Prime Minister to influence the Bank of Japan’s policy direction in the future—particularly regarding the selection of a new governor, as any successor must be nominated by the Prime Minister.