Japan BoJ keeps monetary ‘policy’, up economic view

TOKYO, Sept 17, (KUNA): Japan’s central bank decided on Thursday to maintain its current monetary easing measures, while upgraded its assessment of the country’s economy.

At the end of a two-day policy meeting, Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his eight board colleagues voted by eight to one to keep short-term interest rates at minus 0.1 percent and guiding long-term rates around zero percent, according to a statement released by the BoJ.

The central bank will also continue to buy unlimited amount of Japanese government bonds from financial institutions and exchange-traded funds at an annual pace of JPY 12 trillion (USD 114 billion), it said.

Meanwhile, the BoJ revised upward its view on the world’s third-largest economy, saying, “Japan’s economy has started to pick up with economic activity resuming gradually, although it has remained in a severe situation due to the impact of the COVID-19 at home and abroad.”

In the previous meeting in July, the policymakers said the Japanese economy was in an extremely severe situation.

“Japan’s economy, with economic activity resuming, is likely to follow an improving trend through the materialization of pent-up demand and supported by accommodative financial conditions and the government’s economic measures,” the central bank added.