Hawkish BOJ policymaker calls for rates to rise to at least 1%

OKAYAMA, Japan ― The Bank of Japan must raise interest rates to at least 1 percent by late next year, hawkish policymaker Naoki Tamura said on Thursday, reinforcing the bank's resolve to persist with steady monetary tightening.

It was the first time a BOJ policymaker publicly specified a level the central bank should eventually target in pushing up short-term borrowing costs.