BoJ seen leaving policy on hold at January meeting; focus on core-core CPI outlook
Key points
We expect Policy Board will leave monetary policy on hold when it meets on January 22-23 and project NIRP will be wound down at April meeting
We see Bank lowering real GDP growth forecast for FY23 in January Outlook Report while reiterating its view that economy will grow above potential
If BoJ does not lower its core-core CPI projections, we expect it will continue looking for evidence that "virtuous cycle of wages and prices" has been achieved