TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Bank of Japan policymakers at their January meeting viewed the economic and price environment as providing an "appropriate" opportunity for discussing further interest rate hikes, the minutes showed Tuesday.

At the two-day gathering through Jan. 24, held days after Donald Trump reassumed the U.S. presidency, the Japanese central bank decided to lift its policy rate to 0.5 percent, the highest level in 17 years, from around 0.25 percent in an 8-to-1 vote.

The board members said during the meeting that global financial and capital markets had been "relatively stable, as they had smoothly passed through such a major event as the start of the new U.S. administration," according to the minutes.

In Japan, prices remain on an upward trend due in part to the yen's depreciation, which has weighed on the pace of growth in real wages, while concerns mount that Trump's "America First" policy could impede free trade, dealing a major blow to the world economy.

One BOJ member, however, was quoted by the minutes as saying that the policies of Trump's government were expected to affect Japan "in various ways," but the resilience of the country's economy "had increased enough to withstand some downward stress."

Another member, meanwhile, warned of the risk that rekindled inflation in the United States and global trade conflicts "would occur simultaneously," with BOJ chief Kazuo Ueda acknowledging that Trump's pledges have blurred the economic outlook.