Institutions: If October is missed, the Bank of Japan's last interest rate hike window may be in January next year

If the BoJ fails to raise interest rates at its October meeting, the last chance to do so will be in January, said Ko Nakayama, economist at Okanzo Securities. He pointed out that December is during the supplementary budgeting period, and the Bank of Japan will face difficulties in tightening monetary policy at this point. "If the central bank misses the opportunity again in January, then the decision to raise interest rates will have to be made based on the outcome of the labor negotiations [Chun Dou] next spring," Ko Nakayama said. However, he added that due to the limited ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to pay, the wage increase next year may be lower than this year, and "the momentum of the virtuous circle of wages and prices is expected to weaken significantly compared with this year." (Jin Ten)