JULYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida said on Friday the central bank will "adjust the degree of monetary support" if the economy and prices move in line with its forecasts, signalling readiness to raise interest rates further."Japan's economy is recovering moderately, although there are some weak signs," Uchida said in a speech at an annual meeting of trust unions. Uchida delivered the speech on behalf of governor Kazuo Ueda.The deputy governor also said Japan's underlying inflation is likely to gradually accelerate towards the BOJ's 2 per cent target, as rising wages and prices heighten inflation expectations.The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates in March and has signalled its intention to raise short-term rates further from the current range of 0-0.1 per cent. The central bank also decided at last week's policy meeting to announce a plan in July on how to trim its huge bond buying in the coming one to two years. Uchida said the scale of the BOJ's bond tapering will be "significant," repeating a comment made by governor Ueda in last week's post-meeting news conference.The central bank has also been under pressure to embark on quantitative tightening (QT) and scale back its nearly $5 trillion balance sheet to ensure the effects of future rate hikes smoothly feed into the economy. EKA (Pinnacle Mobility Solutions) declares Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui"), a worldwide trading and investment firm with a rich history of contributing to industrial innovation, has performed a second tranche funding as a part of the preliminary announced phased investment, further solidifying their dedication to the quickly emerging electric vehicle (EV) firm.This strategic infusion of capital will be coordinated towards capital uses (Capex) and working capital, supporting EKA Portability's proceeded with extension and advancement in the EV industry. The organization stated in a press release that this tranche also set up an attractive valuation benchmark for the company and is evidence of EKA's rapid growth.EKA, Mitsui, and VDL Groep entered into a strategic long-term partnership in December 2023. This partnership included joint investments of $ 100 million (INR 850 crores) in phases, equity, and technology cooperation to establish a global OEM leader in India. This is one of the biggest and most critical agreement in the new mobility segment around the world. Under the cooperation, EKA Mobility will get critical and key speculations from Mitsui, and technological help and equity partnership from VDL Groep, a leading Dutch technology and manufacturing firm.On account of partnership, VDL Bus & Coach, a subsidiary of VDL Groep and Europe's frontrunner in electric buses & coaches will uphold EKA Mobility by move of-innovation to create electric buses in India for the Indian market. BOJ DEPUTY GOVERNOR HINTS AT RATE ADJUSTMENTSMITSUI BOOSTS FUNDING IN EKA MOBILITY TO DRIVE EV INNOVATIONNEWSROOM
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