Survey: Most economists expect the Central Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in the second half of 2025

On February 13, Jinshi Data, the Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER), a private think tank, released a monthly survey showing that most of the surveyed economists expect the Central Bank of Japan to raise interest rates again in the second half of this year. A survey of 36 economists showed that 30 economists expect the Central Bank of Japan to keep the interest rate stable at 0.5% in the first half of 2025. The remaining six expect to raise it to 0.75% during this period. 28 economists predict a rate hike to 0.75% in the second half of this year. Two economists expect the interest rate to remain at 0.5%, while six economists believe it will rise to 1%. These forecasts are generally consistent with the previous survey, indicating that there has been little change in market bets on the timing of the next rate hike in the past month.