When Is the Next Bank of Japan Meeting? 2026 Schedule

The Bank of Japan’s Policy Board meets 8 times a year to set the country’s official interest rate, currently 0.75%, the highest level since 1995. Each meeting runs over 2 days, with the decision announced on the second day. Unlike the Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank, the BoJ does not publish its statement at a fixed time, which makes its decision days some of the most closely watched, and occasionally most volatile, events on the global financial calendar. This page lists every Bank of Japan meeting date for 2026, the outcome of each decision so far, and what the announcements mean for currencies, shares and bonds worldwide.

Bank of Japan Meeting Schedule 2026

The Bank of Japan holds 8 Monetary Policy Meetings (MPMs) in 2026, confirmed on the Bank of Japan’s official schedule. The January, April, July and October meetings are accompanied by the quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (the Outlook Report), which contains the Policy Board’s growth and inflation forecasts. Outlook meetings carry extra weight because forecast revisions often signal the direction of future policy.

The Bank of Japan has not yet published its 2027 meeting calendar. Dates for the following year are normally released around the middle of the year, and this page will be updated as soon as they are confirmed.

What Time Is the BoJ Decision Announced?

There is no fixed announcement time. The Bank of Japan releases its policy statement whenever the Policy Board concludes its deliberations on the second day of the meeting, which is typically between 11:30am and 12:30pm Japan Standard Time. When the discussion is contentious, or when the Board is changing policy, the statement can slip into the early afternoon. Traders often read a late statement as a hint that something significant is being debated.

For readers outside Japan, a typical 11:30am JST release lands at 3:30am in London and 10:30pm the previous evening in New York during the summer months (2:30am London and 9:30pm ET in winter). Governor Kazuo Ueda’s press conference follows at 3:30pm JST, which is 7:30am in London and 2:30am ET in summer. The press conference frequently moves markets as much as the statement itself, because the Governor’s language about future hikes is dissected word by word.

The summary version of the Outlook Report is published alongside the statement at quarterly meetings, with the full text following at 2:00pm the next business day. Minutes are released several weeks later, and a shorter Summary of Opinions appears about 10 days after each meeting.

What Is the Bank of Japan Policy Board?

The Policy Board is the Bank of Japan’s highest decision-making body. It has 9 members: the Governor, 2 Deputy Governors and 6 other members, each appointed by the Cabinet and confirmed by both houses of the Diet for 5-year terms. Decisions are taken by majority vote, and dissents are published, which gives markets a useful gauge of how close the Board is to changing course. The 6-3 vote at the April 2026 meeting, with 3 members calling for an immediate hike to 1%, was widely read as a signal that further tightening was near.

The Board’s main instrument is the short-term policy rate, formally the guideline for the uncollateralised overnight call rate. That rate currently stands at around 0.75%, the highest in roughly 30 years. The Board also sets the Bank’s approach to government bond purchases, which still matters because the BoJ accumulated an enormous share of the Japanese government bond market during its years of quantitative and qualitative easing.

Japan’s monetary history is unlike any other major economy’s. The BoJ cut rates to near zero in 1999, pioneered quantitative easing in 2001, and in 2016 introduced both a negative policy rate of -0.1% and yield curve control, which capped 10-year government bond yields. That extraordinary framework lasted until March 2024, when the Bank ended negative rates and scrapped yield curve control in its first hike in 17 years. Since then it has raised rates in small steps: to 0.25% in July 2024, 0.5% in January 2025 and 0.75% in December 2025.

The Bank’s mandate is price stability, defined since 2013 as a 2% inflation target. For most of the past 3 decades the problem was inflation persistently below that target. The post-pandemic period reversed the picture: Japanese inflation has run at or above 2% since 2022, giving the Board room to normalise policy at a pace it describes as cautious and data dependent.

How the BoJ Makes Its Decision

The Policy Board’s central question is whether inflation is being driven by durable domestic forces, chiefly wages, rather than imported costs. The key annual event is the shunto, the spring wage negotiations between large employers and unions. Strong shunto outcomes in 2024, 2025 and 2026 have underpinned the Bank’s confidence that a virtuous cycle between wages and prices is taking hold, and each year’s results feed directly into the March and April policy discussions.

Services inflation gets particular attention because it reflects domestic labour costs rather than energy or food imports. The Board also watches the yen closely: a weak yen raises import prices and squeezes households, and bouts of yen weakness in 2024 and 2025 added pressure for tighter policy. At the April 2026 meeting the Board raised its inflation forecast to 2.8% from 1.9%, citing energy price risks from the conflict in the Middle East, while cutting its growth forecast for fiscal 2026 to 0.5%.

The quarterly Outlook Report frames all of this. When the Board’s projections show inflation staying around 2% with risks tilted to the upside, as they did in April 2026, markets treat it as a signal that the next hike is approaching. The published vote split and the Summary of Opinions then sharpen the picture: the Summary from the April meeting explicitly flagged the possibility of a rate rise at the June meeting.

What the BoJ Decision Means for Your Money

Most readers of this page do not live in Japan, yet the BoJ can still move your pension, your portfolio and your mortgage market. The reason is the yen carry trade. Because Japanese interest rates sat near or below zero for decades, investors worldwide borrowed cheaply in yen and invested the proceeds in higher-yielding assets elsewhere: US shares, emerging market bonds, even cryptocurrencies. Estimates of the carry trade’s size run into the hundreds of billions of dollars. When the BoJ raises rates, borrowing in yen becomes more expensive and the yen tends to strengthen, which squeezes those positions from both sides and can force rapid selling of assets far from Tokyo.

August 2024 is the textbook case. The BoJ’s July 31, 2024 hike to 0.25%, combined with weak US jobs data days later, triggered a violent unwind of carry trades. On August 5, 2024 the Nikkei 225 fell 12.4%, its worst single day since 1987, and the selling spread to US and European equities before markets stabilised. The episode demonstrated that a 15 basis point move in Tokyo can wipe billions off portfolios in London and New York within 48 hours.

Japanese government bond yields matter globally too. Japan is one of the world’s largest creditor nations, and Japanese institutions hold vast amounts of foreign bonds, including US Treasuries and European government debt. As JGB yields rise, with the 10-year yield moving above 2% after the December 2025 hike, Japanese investors have less reason to buy bonds abroad and more reason to bring money home. That repatriation pressure tends to push global bond yields higher, which feeds through to government borrowing costs and, eventually, mortgage rates in other countries. For savers and investors outside Japan, the practical points are simple: BoJ surprises raise volatility in global equities, a strengthening yen is often an early warning of risk-off moves, and the long march of Japanese yields higher is a slow-burning force pushing up bond yields everywhere.

How Markets React to BoJ Decisions

The yen is the first mover. A surprise hike or hawkish guidance typically strengthens the yen sharply against the dollar, euro and pound, with moves of 1% to 2% in USD/JPY common on big surprises. A dovish hold tends to weaken the yen, sometimes prompting verbal intervention from Japan’s Ministry of Finance if the slide is disorderly.

The Nikkei 225 usually moves inversely to the yen. Japan’s index is heavy with exporters such as Toyota and Sony, whose overseas earnings are worth more in a weak yen, so hawkish surprises tend to knock the Nikkei while dovish ones lift it. JGB yields rise on hikes and hawkish signals, and because of the carry trade and repatriation channels described above, large BoJ surprises ripple into US Treasuries, European bonds and global equity indices within hours.

The absence of a fixed announcement time adds a uniquely Japanese twist. Tokyo trading floors watch the clock from 11:30am, and as the wait stretches past noon, speculation builds that a policy change is coming. Headlines can hit during the European pre-market or the middle of the Asian afternoon, so traders in London and New York often wake up to the result rather than watching it live.

Recent BoJ Decisions

The table below shows every Bank of Japan policy decision since the Bank ended negative interest rates in March 2024.

The pattern is one of slow but persistent normalisation: roughly 1 hike per year from 2024, accelerating to 2 moves in the 12 months to December 2025. The growing number of dissents in favour of higher rates through early 2026 suggests the Board’s centre of gravity is shifting towards further tightening.

Related Economic Events

The BoJ is one of 4 major central bank decisions that anchor the global monetary calendar. See our guide to FOMC meetings for the Federal Reserve schedule, the single biggest influence on the dollar side of USD/JPY. Our ECB rate decisions page covers the European Central Bank’s calendar and the euro. And the Bank of England MPC meetings page tracks UK rate decisions, which often land in the same week as BoJ announcements.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often does the Bank of Japan meet?

The Policy Board holds 8 Monetary Policy Meetings each year, normally in January, March, April, June, July, September, October and December. Each meeting lasts 2 days, with the decision announced on the second day. The January, April, July and October meetings include the quarterly Outlook Report with updated forecasts.

What time is the BoJ announcement?

There is no scheduled time. The statement is usually released between 11:30am and 12:30pm Japan Standard Time on the final day of the meeting, which is early morning in London and late the previous evening in New York. The announcement comes later when the Board’s discussion is contentious. The Governor’s press conference follows at 3:30pm JST.

What is Japan’s current interest rate?

The Bank of Japan’s short-term policy rate is around 0.75%, set in December 2025 and the highest level since 1995. The Board held the rate at 0.75% at its January, March and April 2026 meetings.

Why does the BoJ matter to global markets?

Decades of near-zero Japanese rates made the yen the world’s favourite funding currency, and Japanese investors became among the largest holders of foreign bonds. When the BoJ tightens, carry trades unwind and Japanese capital flows home, which can push down global share prices and push up bond yields far beyond Japan. The market turmoil of August 2024 showed how quickly a BoJ move can spread worldwide.

What is the yen carry trade?

A carry trade involves borrowing in a currency with low interest rates and investing the money in assets offering higher returns elsewhere. The yen has been the dominant funding currency because Japanese rates were near or below zero for so long. The trade is profitable while Japanese rates stay low and the yen stays weak, but it unwinds rapidly, and often violently, when the BoJ raises rates or the yen strengthens suddenly.

When will the BoJ raise rates next?

No future move is guaranteed, but the signals point to the June 15-16, 2026 meeting as a live one. Three of the 9 Policy Board members voted for an immediate hike to 1% in April 2026, the Bank raised its inflation forecast to 2.8% on energy price risks, and the published Summary of Opinions from the April meeting flagged the possibility of a June increase. Most market economists expect the next step to take the policy rate to 1%, though the timing remains data dependent.

Meeting dates and policy decisions are sourced from the Bank of Japan. This page is updated after each Monetary Policy Meeting.