Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will not attend the annual Federal Reserve symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this week, the central bank said on Wednesday. Instead, board member Naoki Tamura will represent the BOJ at the event, which typically draws global policymakers and market participants.
The absence of Ueda, a key figure in global monetary policy, shifts attention to other high-profile speakers at the gathering, including newly appointed U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Analysts will scrutinize their remarks for signals on the trajectory of U.S. interest rates and broader economic policy.
Tamura, a former commercial banker known for his hawkish stance on the nine-member BOJ board, has publicly advocated for a steady pace of rate increases, stating that he favors raising interest rates "once every few months." A majority of economists polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to raise its benchmark policy rate from 1% to 1.25% at its upcoming meeting on September 17-18, 2026.
The BOJ's decision to send Tamura to Jackson Hole comes ahead of next week's G20 finance leaders' gathering in Asheville, North Carolina, where global monetary policy coordination and economic outlooks are expected to take center stage. Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino is scheduled to deliver a speech and hold a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday, adding further context to the central bank's policy stance.
The central bank has raised rates once this year, following its June decision to tighten policy as inflationary pressures persisted in Japan.
