BOJ Governor Ueda’s comments at news conference

By Leika Kihara Oct 30 (Reuters) The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady on Friday, but declared victory in a nearly 14-year battle to hit its price target and signalled vigilance against inflation risks, suggesting the ​next rate hike could be as soon as December. With underlying inflation roughly ‌hitting the BOJ s 2% target, the central bank must focus on anchoring it around that level, it said, stressing anew that its policy has entered a new, more hawkish phase open to raising rates once every few months. Following are excerpts from Governor Kazuo Ueda s comments at his post-meeting ‌news ​conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by ⁠Reuters: ON KEEPING RATES STEADY: We saw ⁠the need to scrutinise a bit more economic and price risks, as well as financial conditions. But underlying inflation has reached levels consistent with our price target. Financial conditions remain accommodative. There are various upside risks. We must therefore ​be vigilant to the r