By Takaya Yamaguchi and Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan’s plan to gradually raise interest rates is broadly in line with the government’s thinking on economic policy, Yoshimasa Hayashi, top government spokesperson and a contender to become next prime minister, told Reuters.

Asked whether he was concerned that any interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve could hurt Japan’s export-reliant economy by pushing up the yen against the dollar, Hayashi said policymakers in Tokyo were moving past such assumptions.

Japan’s traditional aversion to a strong yen, held mainly among exporters and at times a trigger for government intervention, had diminished, he said in an interview on Sunday.

“Conversely, we’ve seen the yen weaken which, coupled with rising oil costs since Russi

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