Investing.com - The Bank of Japan announced Thursday that it was launching an aggressive easing program in order to achieve its 2% inflation target and stimulate growth in the world’s third largest economy.
In its first meeting under the helm of new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the BOJ said it would double its holdings of long-term government bonds and exchange-traded funds and purchase Japanese government bonds of all maturities.
It also plans to bring forward the timing of open-ended asset purchases and said it was likely to buy JPY7 trillion in long-term government bonds a month.
A statement on monetary policy released after the announcement showed that the decisions were made by a unanimous vote by the BoJ’s nine-man policy board.
The central bank said in a statement announcing the decision that it “will conduct money-market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about JPY60 trillion to JPY70 trillion."
Following the decision, the yen was sharply lower against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY surging 1.5% to trade at 94.43.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index soared 2%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index shed 0.9%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index remained closed for a holiday.
In its first meeting under the helm of new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the BOJ said it would double its holdings of long-term government bonds and exchange-traded funds and purchase Japanese government bonds of all maturities.
It also plans to bring forward the timing of open-ended asset purchases and said it was likely to buy JPY7 trillion in long-term government bonds a month.
A statement on monetary policy released after the announcement showed that the decisions were made by a unanimous vote by the BoJ’s nine-man policy board.
The central bank said in a statement announcing the decision that it “will conduct money-market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about JPY60 trillion to JPY70 trillion."
Following the decision, the yen was sharply lower against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY surging 1.5% to trade at 94.43.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index soared 2%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index shed 0.9%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index remained closed for a holiday.