Over half of economists expect BOJ to hike rates further this year – Reuters poll

More than a half of economists expect the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates further this year, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, possibly taking them to as high as 0.25%. The BOJ on Tuesday ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy, hiking rates for the first time in 17 years to around zero in a historic shift away from decades of massive monetary stimulus. Of 35 economists polled, 54% expected another increase in short-term interest rates by year-end, according to the poll conducted on March 19-21 after the BOJ wrapped up its policy-setting meeting.