TOKYO   -   The Bank of Japan lifted its main interest rate Wednesday for just the second time in 17 years in another step away from its long-standing ultra-loose monetary policies. The central bank said in a statement it had set an interest rate of 0.25 percent -- up from around zero to 0.1 percent -- hav­ing ditched its maverick nega­tive rate policy aimed at boost­ing economic growth in March. Its decision, announced after a two-day policy meeting, caused the yen to surge briefly before weakening to levels above 153 per dollar. “Moves to raise wages have been spreading” in Japan while “economic activity and prices have been developing gen­erally in line with the bank’s out­look”, the BoJ said. If the world’s fourth largest economy moves in line with the bank’s expecta­tions, officials “will accordingly continue to raise the policy inter­est rate and adjust the degree of monetary accommodation”, it said. Analysts had been divided on whether the BoJ would hike rates, with some predicting policymakers would wait until the autumn because of slug­gish consumption in Japan. And while wages are rising -- with unions this year securing their biggest gains in three decades -- workers’ pay has failed to keep up with the pace of inflation.