[Former Japanese Finance Ministry Official: Bank of Japan Should Raise Interest Rates at Every Meeting] Deep Tide TechFlow reports that on August 17, Takehiko Nakao, former Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs at Japan's Ministry of Finance and former President of the Asian Development Bank, stated on Monday that the Bank of Japan should raise interest rates at every policy meeting, aiming to increase the benchmark interest rate to above 2% in order to narrow the interest rate gap between Japan and the U.S. and alleviate the depreciation pressure on the yen. He noted that even if Japan raises its policy rate to 1%, the real interest rate would still be negative, whereas real interest rates in other countries are positive. He believes that with an inflation rate of around 2%, it would not be unusual for Japan's policy rate to reach 2.25% or 2.5%. (Jin10)