BOJ Governor Ueda's comments at news conference

BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 01:52 AM EST

Jan 24 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan raised interest rates on Friday to their highest since the 2008 global financial crisis and revised up its inflation forecasts, underscoring its confidence that rising wages will keep inflation stable around its 2% target.

At its two-day meeting concluding on Friday, the BOJ raised its short-term policy rate from 0.25% to 0.5% - a level Japan has not seen in 17 years. It was made in an 8-1 vote with board member Toyoaki Nakamura dissenting.

Following are excerpts from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:

WAGE HIKE

"Many firms are saying they will continue to raise wages ... Various data shows the U.S. economy is in firm shape. Markets have been stable as the broad direction of Trump's policies become clearer. While import price growth is subdued on a year-on-year basis, the weak yen is pushing up import costs."

POLICY RATE

"There's no change to our view of raising our policy rate and adjusting the degree of monetary support if the economy and prices move in line with our forecasts."

"The timing and pace of adjusting monetary support will depend on economic and price developments at the time. We don't have any preset idea. We will make a decision at each policy meeting by looking at economic and price developments as well as risks." (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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Lower-quality debt securities generally offer higher yields, but also involve greater risk of default or price changes due to potential changes in the credit quality of the issuer. Any fixed income security sold or redeemed prior to maturity may be subject to loss.

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