[Former BOJ Official: Bank of Japan May Raise Rates for the Second Consecutive Month in October] Golden Finance reports that on September 28, Kazuo Momma, former Executive Director in charge of monetary policy at the Bank of Japan (BOJ), stated that the BOJ might raise its benchmark interest rate for the second consecutive month during its October policy meeting, earlier than many economists had anticipated. Momma said, "The basic pace might be once every three months, but there is a considerable possibility that the BOJ could raise rates in two consecutive meetings. I estimate this probability to be around 20% to 30%." Momma noted that this wording is intended to signal to the market that as the policy focus shifts, the pace of future rate hikes could accelerate. Momma stated, "The BOJ has consistently emphasized the risk of underlying inflation rising above 2%. Given this, I believe this risk will not diminish over the next three months; rather, it is more likely to increase." Momma's baseline scenario is that the BOJ's policy rate will rise to a terminal rate of around 2% by June or July next year, implying that the policy committee may implement three additional rate hikes of 25 basis points each. (Jin10)