Institution: The Bank of Japan's measures will depend on whether inflation spreads to areas other than energy.

Golden Finance reports that on April 24th, economist Nobuyasu Atago from the Nomura Securities Economic Research Institute stated that the key focus of the Bank of Japan’s next move is how much the rise in energy prices caused by the Middle East conflict will trigger a chain reaction in other commodities and services. He predicts that the Bank of Japan will maintain the current stance at next week’s meeting because, in this kind of shock, the central bank should ensure that necessary funds are provided to those in need rather than raising interest rates. He said, “It is appropriate to delay interest rate hikes until the situation in the Strait of Hormuz moves toward normalization or the outlook for crude oil procurement becomes clearer.”(Jin10)