The Daily Manila Shimbun

 

BOJ keeps monetary policy unchanged

January 21, 2020



Tokyo--The Bank of Japan said Tuesday that it decided to keep its current monetary easing policy unchanged at a two-day policy review that ended on the day.

The BOJ Policy Board voted seven to two to keep its short-term policy interest rate at minus 0.1 pct and guide 10-year government bond yields around zero pct.

In a quarterly report released following the policy meeting, the BOJ gave a median forecast of 0.9 pct for Japan's real gross domestic product growth in fiscal 2020, which starts next April, up from its October projection of 0.7 pct, anticipating the effects of a large-scale economic stimulus package announced by the Japanese government.

Median GDP growth estimates among BOJ policymakers were revised up to 0.8 pct from 0.6 pct for fiscal 2019 and to 1.1 pct from 1.0 pct for fiscal 2021.

In the latest Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report, the central bank maintained its view that downside risks concerning overseas economies are "significant." At the same time, the BOJ newly said such risks "have decreased somewhat compared with a while ago," apparently taking into account progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations.

The BOJ kept unchanged its view that the Japanese economy is "on a moderate expanding trend."

The quarterly report also showed that the median growth forecast for the country's core consumer price index, excluding fresh food prices, in fiscal 2019 came to 0.6 pct, down from 0.7 pct projected three months earlier.

The fiscal 2020 CPI growth projection was revised down to 1.0 pct from 1.1 pct, and the fiscal 2021 forecast to 1.4 pct from 1.5 pct. Jiji Press