By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Saturday he wouldn’t intervene in monetary policy affairs, since the central bank is remitted to understand price stability.

“It is crucial to avoid vocally intervening” in monetary policy affairs, or appear as if he was doing so, Ishiba said in a news conference gathering leaders of major parties ahead of the Oct. 27 general election.

“Regardless of the federal government has to say, the Bank of Japan makes an individual decision on policy,” Ishiba said. “I feel the BOJ’s governor and staff have a robust sense of responsibility over achieving price stability.”

Ishiba also said strength in consumption is crucial to achieving a sustained exit from deflation, calling for the need for measures to boost real wages.

The previous defence minister became Japan’s prime minister on Oct. 1 after winning the ruling party’s leadership race.

A day after assuming the role, Ishiba stunned markets by saying the economy was not ready for further rate of interest hikes, an apparent about-face from his previous support for the BOJ unwinding an extended time of maximum monetary stimulus.

The surprisingly blunt remarks pushed the yen lower against the dollar and solid fresh doubts over how aggressive the BOJ could possibly be in raising rates.

It’s historically rare for the country’s leader to comment directly on the BOJ’s rate of interest policy in public, because it could infringe upon the central bank’s independence – stipulated by law – in setting monetary policy.

The BOJ ended negative rates of interest in March and raised the short-term benchmark to 0.25% in July on the view Japan was making progress towards durably achieving its 2% inflation goal.

Governor Kazuo Ueda has signalled the bank’s readiness to keep up raising rates of interest if economic and price developments move consistent with its forecast.

While politics is unlikely to derail the longer-term case for rate hikes, analysts say uncertainty on Ishiba’s stance on monetary policy and the consequence of the Oct. 27 election could complicate the BOJ’s decision on how soon to lift borrowing costs.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sam Holmes)