At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan decided upon the following. (1) Yield curve control a) The Bank decided, by a unanimous vote, to set the following guideline for market operations for the intermeeting period. The short-term policy interest rate: The Bank will apply a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 percent to the Policy-Rate Balances in current accounts held by financial institutions at the Bank. The long-term interest rate: The Bank will purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will ... (full story)

The Bank of Japan left its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged at its final policy meeting this year in light of “high uncertainties” in the world’s third-largest economy, saying that core inflation will stay above 2% throughout fiscal 2024. The BOJ decided unanimously that it would keep interest rates at -0.1%, while also sticking to its yield curve policy that references the 1% upper bound for 10-year Japanese government bonds as its limit. Bank of Japan’s possible moves to unwind its super easy monetary policy are being challenged by a slowing economy and cooling inflation. Most economists expect Governor Kazuo ... (full story)

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday kept its key policy levers unchanged as expectations grow that it will end its negative rate policy amid sustained inflationary pressure. In its policy statement released after a two-day board meeting, the BOJ kept a line indicating its easing bias. The statement also kept an inflation overshooting commitment, which obliges the BOJ to "continue expanding the monetary base until the year-on-year rate of increase in observed CPI exceeds 2% and stays above the target in a stable manner." Short-term rates will be guided to minus 0.1% as before, while the 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) ... (full story)