Leika Kihara

The Bank of Japan must raise interest rates and continue to phase out its controversial stimulus program, Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), said Friday.

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan said it reaped 1.264 trillion yen ($8.31 billion) in dividends from its holdings of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the April-September first half of the current fiscal year, up from 1.137 trillion yen in the year-before period.

Japan’s wholesale inflation accelerated for three straight months as companies continued to pass on rising raw material and labour costs, data showed

The data comes ahead of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting next week, when the board will debate whether to lift rates from the current 0.25%.

Show Key Questions When might the BOJ consider raising interest rates if it doesn't do so at its final meeting this year?

As widely expected, the nine-member BOJ board voted 8-1 to keep its short-term policy rate unchanged at 0.25% in a sign policymakers preferred to

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda attends a news conference in Tokyo, on Dec. 19. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Japan's core inflation accelerated in November as rising food and fuel costs hit households, data showed on Friday, keeping the central bank under pressure to raise interest rates.

The news comes in the wake of the Bank of Japan's decision to maintain interest rates at 0.25% on Thursday.

In rare criticism of its past policies, the Bank of Japan said former governor Haruhiko Kuroda's stimulus didn't change consumer psychology as much as planned, continuing a symbolic shift away from his decade of policy radicalism.