Japan downgrades economic outlook
Central bank maintains its monetary policy
TOKYO, April 28, (KUNA): Japan’s central bank decided Thursday to maintain its current monetary easing measures, while downgraded its outlook 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 8 to 1 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 exchange-traded funds with an annual upper limit of about JPY 12 trillion (USD 92 billion), it said.
Meanwhile, in its outlook report published after the meeting, the BOJ revised down growth forecast for the world’s third-largest economy, saying it is expected to grow 2.9 percent in the current fiscal year, compared with the 3.8 percent growth estimated in January.
“Until the middle of the projection period, Japan’s economy is likely to recover, with the impact of COVID-19 and supply-side constraints waning and with support from an increase in external demand, accommodative financial conditions, and the government’s economic measures, although it is expected to be under downward pressure stemming from the rise in commodity prices,” the central bank said.
The BOJ raised its inflation outlook for fiscal 2022 to 1.9 percent, up from its previous forecast of a 1.1 percent increase.