Some Bank of Japan board members in July stressed the need for gradual interest rate hikes, citing the risk of inflation exceeding the central bank’s 2 percent target, minutes of their meeting showed Thursday. The members said it was “appropriate to gradually adjust the extremely low interest rate level,” when the central bank decided to raise the short-term rate to 0.25 percent from a range of zero to 0.1 percent at its two-day policy meeting through July 31. One member said the policy rate should be raised to around 1 percent by late 2025, while all members agreed the yen’s depreciation woul…