Former Bank of Japan board member Soshi Ando expected the central bank to raise interest rates in April.

Former policy board member of the Bank of Japan, Atsushi Ando, stated that the Bank of Japan may raise interest rates in April following the release of a series of new data, disregarding market speculation about action in March. "There is risk in raising rates in March because the decision would be based on expectations rather than facts," Ando said in an interview. "By waiting until April, they will have a significant amount of data to confirm whether core inflation is increasing."