Bank of Japan Gov. ?Kazuo Ueda has been hospitalized for medical treatment and will miss the June ?15-16 policy meeting, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The BOJ is widely expected to raise interest rates next week to levels unseen in three decades to counter mounting inflationary pressures from the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.

It ?is the first time for the governor, who chairs the BOJ¡¯s meeting, to miss ?a policy-setting meeting since it began deciding policy under the current arrangement in 1998.

The governor will submit a written statement on ?his view on policy but will ?not participate in next week¡¯s vote, the BOJ said in a statement.

Ueda, 74, is expected to remain in ?hospital for about ?two weeks getting treatment for an infected liver cyst, ?work remotely and attend the next policy ?meeting, on July 30 and 31, ?the central bank said.

His hospitalization is unlikely to affect next week¡¯s decision, with a rate hike widely anticipated following the BOJ¡¯s recent hawkish signals and a board leaning increasingly toward an imminent tightening, ?said Mari Iwashita, executive rates strategist at Nomura Securities.

¡°But it will certainly complicate the BOJ¡¯s communication at a time markets are already shifting attention to the pace and timing of rate hikes beyond June,¡± she said.

¡°With Ueda¡¯s absence, the BOJ may ?decide ?not to send clear signals on the future rate ?path. Given uncertainty on how long it may take for the governor to ?fully recover, it¡¯s also become more unclear on whether the BOJ would hike again this year.¡±

Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino will preside over the rate review in place of Ueda, and the other deputy governor, Shinichi Uchida, ?is set to host the post-meeting news conference, the BOJ said.

The announcement follows one the BOJ made in late May that its Deputy Gov. Uchida had been discharged from hospital after recovering from leukaemia treatment.