AsianFin--The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to revise down its economic growth forecast for this year in July, according to sources, while maintaining projections that inflation will hover around its 2% target in the coming years. This outlook leaves open the possibility of an interest rate hike later this month.

At its upcoming policy meeting on July 30-31, BOJ will present updated quarterly forecasts for economic growth and prices. Discussions will center on whether to increase interest rates from their current near-zero levels.

Sources familiar with the matter indicated that a rare unscheduled revision to Japan's historical GDP data is likely to result in a slight downward adjustment to the BOJ's growth forecast for the current fiscal year.

However, they expect minimal changes to the GDP forecasts for fiscal 2025 and 2026, maintaining the view that the economy is progressing toward a moderate recovery.