BOJ Keeps Ultraeasy Policy Unchanged

September 19, 2018

Tokyo- The Bank of Japan decided to keep its current massive monetary easing regime unchanged at a two-day policy-setting meeting that ended on Wednesday.

The BOJ's Policy Board voted seven to two to hold steady the bank's short-term policy interest rate at minus 0.1 pct and its long-term rate target at around zero pct, according to a statement released after the meeting.

In the statement, the bank said it "intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short- and long-term interest rates for an extended period of time," while reiterating its stance of allowing the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield to "move upward and downward to some extent."

The stance on bond yield fluctuations was adopted at its previous policy-setting meeting, in late July.

At the just-ended meeting, the dissenting votes were cast by Goshi Kataoka, who called for strengthening the easing campaign, and Yutaka Harada, who criticized the stance on yield fluctuations as "too ambiguous."

The central bank also said in the latest statement that the Japanese economy is "expanding moderately," with consumer price inflation "likely to increase gradually" toward its target of 2 pct.

The BOJ cited protectionist moves and developments in emerging economies, among other things, as risk factors for the economy.

Later in the day, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a press conference, which is likely to draw attention after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his willingness on Friday to lay the groundwork within the next three years for an exit from the ultraeasy monetary policy. Jiji Press