BoJ rate decision · 31 July 2026

The BoJ kept its uncollateralized overnight call rate guideline at around 1.0 percent by an 8-1 vote, with Takata Hajime proposing a rise to 1.25 percent, a proposal that was defeated.

• After the rate was raised to around 1.0 percent in June, the guideline was kept unchanged at around 1.0 percent at this meeting.
• The dissent changed direction: in June Asada Toichiro dissented in favour of holding, while this time Takata Hajime proposed 1.25 percent, citing upside risks to prices from demand shocks stemming from overseas developments.
• The vote moved from 7-1 to 8-1; Governor Ueda Kazuo, absent in June, and new member Sato Ayano voted with the majority, and Asada supported the decision this time.
• This statement covers only the policy decision; the June text's assessment of activity, prices and the guidance to continue raising rates is absent here, with the outlook left to the Outlook Report released separately the same day.

Tone of the statement: more hawkish than the previous one — The only dissent in the text is now hawkish: Takata proposed 1.25 percent, arguing the situation had shifted to 'a new phase' requiring a 'nimble approach' to upside price risks, while June's dovish dissent disappeared.

The summary and tone assessment were produced by a language model (claude-code/opus, prompt version 1); they are no substitute for the official text.