The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its massive stimulus programme last month on the view that sustained achievement of its 2% inflation target has come into sight.
"If we waited until trend inflation actually hit 2%, inflation could have gained momentum and sharply exceeded 2%. That would require raising rates aggressively. We wanted to reduce such risk," Ueda said, explaining why the BOJ exited its stimulus programme in March.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Tom Hogue)
