It should be absolutely clear, in fact, that the Council is always ready to act to fend off dangers to price stability that might emerge from whatever source of evidence, be it model-based econometric exercises or more specific assessments of real and monetary developments.
Although the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) has presented a basic stance toward the next spring wage negotiations – namely, demanding a base pay increase of about 2 percent – it is uncertain how rises in the underlying trend in inflation and the outlook for prices will be reflected in base pay.