(Corrects to eight, not nine, board members in 2nd paragraph, adds BOJ governor’s absence from meeting)
TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Some Bank of Japan board members said consumer inflation will likely get a significant boost in the latter half of the current fiscal year as firms plan price hikes for a wide range of goods, minutes of the June meeting showed on Wednesday.
The minutes also showed two of the eight board members calling for faster interest rate hikes to push the BOJ’s policy rate closer to levels deemed neutral to the economy. Governor Kazuo Ueda, who had been hospitalised, was absent from the meeting.
The BOJ raised interest rates to a 31-year high of 1% at the June meeting as rising fuel costs from the Middle East conflict added to mounting inflationary pressures from a weak yen and tight job market.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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