TOKYO -- Newly released Bank of Japan policy board minutes spanning the first half of 2007 show a central bank in a strikingly similar economic environment arriving at a rate hike in a decision all but unthinkable today.
At a February 2007 meeting, the BOJ committed to its second rate tightening in seven months. Though prices were largely flat at the time, the national economy was in the midst of a five-year recovery -- the longest in postwar history.
