[Sources: The Bank of Japan to Commit to Further Rate Hikes at Next Week's Policy Meeting] BlockBeats News, December 12 – According to three sources, the Bank of Japan is likely to maintain its commitment to further rate hikes at next week's policy meeting but will emphasize that the pace of future hikes will depend on how the economy responds to each increase. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has essentially pre-announced a rate hike in December, and the market has almost fully priced in the possibility of raising the interest rate from 0.5% to 0.75% this month. Market attention has shifted to the extent to which the Bank of Japan can raise rates to a neutral level. Sources indicate that while the central bank may internally update its estimate of how far its policy rate is from what is considered neutral, it will not use this estimate as a primary communication tool for its future rate hike path due to the difficulty of making precise predictions. Instead, the Bank of Japan will explain that future rate hike decisions will be based on considerations of how past hikes have impacted bank lending, corporate financing conditions, and other economic activities. One of the sources stated, "Japan's real interest rates are very low, which allows the Bank of Japan to continue raising rates in several stages." The other two sources shared the same view. (Jin10)