On April 28, Marcel Thieliant, Head of Asia Economics at Capital Economics, stated that although the Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged, its outlook report leaned hawkish. Thieliant continues to hold his prediction that the BOJ will raise rates in June. He added that three members voted in favor of a rate hike, marking the largest dissent since the implementation of negative interest rate policy in 2016. While it was not surprising that hawkish members Takeda and Tamura voted against, it was notable that Nakagawa joined the dissenting camp for the first time.