BOJ to begin initial research to include wage trends to 'tankan'

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) said on Tuesday it would start preliminary research on including wage-related items in its quarterly "tankan" business survey to more accurately reflect wage trends in the country's monetary policy.

The central bank plans to conduct several preliminary surveys on wage growth as well as its economic outlook from September this year through June next year, targeting about 1,500 companies, or a sixth of all 9,000 tankan respondents.

The wage items would likely be introduced to the tankan survey in a few years, a BOJ official said.

The BOJ publishes the results of its tankan survey, or the Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan, in April, July, October and December.

In a move to phase out its radical stimulus, the BOJ raised interest rates last month, driven by a growing conviction Japan is making progress towards sustainably achieving its 2% inflation target, supported by solid wage growth.

(Reporting by Takahiko Wada and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)