By Divya Chowdhury

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Political turmoil after Japan’s ruling coalition lost its majority in a snap election last weekend could lead the Bank of Japan to delay its next interest rate hike until January, a former BOJ board member said on Friday.

“If the yen depreciates further (against the dollar), the probability of a rate hike by Bank of Japan in December will increase, but otherwise I think that January of next year could be likely,” said Takahide Kiuchi, who sat on the BOJ board from 2012 to 2017.

Kiuchi told the Reuters Global Markets Forum that if dollar-yen rises above 155 and the government is forced to intervene in the currency market again, it may pressure the BOJ to hike rates to arrest further yen depreciation.

Despite various rounds of intervention in 2024, the yen fell to a 38-year low of 161.96 per dollar on July 3 and then reversed its downtrend after the BOJ’s July 31 decision to raise interest rates to 0.25%.

On Friday the yen was 0.4% lower on day at 152.63, having risen on Thursday on less dovish comments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda after the bank kept rates on hold.

“The BOJ’s basic policy stance has not been changed,” said Kiuchi, now an executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, adding that he expected the bank to reach a terminal policy rate of around 0.75% by mid-2025.

The head of the opposition party, Yuichiro Tamaki — whom the ruling LDP is courting for support after losing its majority in the lower house — said the BOJ should wait for at least six months before hiking interest rates.

Kiuchi believes the ruling party will have to accept the opposition party’s policy stance that ultra-easy monetary policy should be maintained until wage gains increase sustainably above inflation.

“Maybe BOJ is refraining from making a comment on the political situation, but I think the political situation could be very influential for the Bank of Japan monetary policy,” Kiuchi said. “That’s a large risk.”

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(Reporting by Divya Chowdhury in Mumbai; Editing by Hugh Lawson)