Kazuo Ueda: Opening remarks - BOJ-IMES conference 2025

Opening remarks by Mr Kazuo Ueda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, at the 2025 Bank of Japan-Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies Conference "New Challenges for Monetary Policy", hosted by IMES, Tokyo, 27 May 2025.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

I. Introduction

We are pleased to welcome all of you, distinguished speakers and guests, to the 2025 BOJIMES Conference. Thank you very much for your participation.

The first BOJ-IMES Conference was held in 1983, and while it was held biennially in some cases, this year marks the 30th edition. Since its inception, the conference has brought together participants from central banks, international institutions, and academia, providing a valuable platform for candid and active discussions on central banking in the context of the evolving global landscape.

The theme of this anniversary conference is "New Challenges for Monetary Policy." I have just returned from the G7 meeting in Canada, where many of my colleagues expressed confidence in the progress made toward fulfilling their mandates, though they also acknowledged new challenges such as heightened trade policy uncertainty and dealing effectively with more frequent supply shocks.

To be honest, I felt slightly left out, though not for the first time, because here in Japan we are still grappling with the longstanding challenge of achieving our 2 percent inflation target in a sustainable manner, while being mindful of the implications of the zero lower bound of policy interest rates.

That said, the nature of our challenge has evolved considerably in recent years. We are now closer to the target than at any time during the last three decades, though we are not quite there. Our recent path has been affected in a unique way by supply shocks.