Such monetary policy resulted in a complete failure.18  18  The transcript of the February 2007 Monetary Policy Meeting, at which an interest rate hike was decided, was released on July 31, 2017. In relation to this, in an interview by Jiji Press, Kazumasa Iwata -- who was deputy governor in 2007 -- said that it was a failure to raise interest rates.
In the same interview, Atsushi Mizuno -- who was a Policy Board member in 2007-- said that he thought it was better to raise interest rates by a certain degree in order to secure a buffer for monetary easing when the economy deteriorated (reported by Jiji Press at 8:52 a.m. on July 31, 2017). Mizuno's view explains the Bank's past thinking on the buffer.