Investing.com - The Bank of Japan unanimously decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged and made no changes to the size of its asset-purchase program, it announced on Tuesday.
The BoJ kept the size of its asset purchase program at JPY66 trillion, after boosting it by JPY11 trillion at its October meeting. The asset purchase fund has been its main policy tool since October 2010.
Policy makers kept a separate credit loan program at JPY25 trillion. The BoJ also left its policy interest-rate target unchanged in the current range of zero to 0.1%
A statement on monetary policy released after the announcement showed that the Bank of Japan’s nine-man policy board voted unanimously to maintain the interest rate at its current level.
In a statement accompanying the policy decision, the Bank of Japan said it will maintain its ultra-low interest-rate policy while “steadily increasing the amount outstanding of its asset-purchase program,” in order to overcome deflation as early as possible.
Policy makers said the domestic economy was “weakening somewhat” amid softer exports and industrial production, adding that its outlook for the economy was “to remain weak for the time being.”
Following the decision, the yen was higher against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY shedding 0.22% to trade at 81.22.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were broadly mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped 0.45%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index added 0.55%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased up 0.1%.
The BoJ kept the size of its asset purchase program at JPY66 trillion, after boosting it by JPY11 trillion at its October meeting. The asset purchase fund has been its main policy tool since October 2010.
Policy makers kept a separate credit loan program at JPY25 trillion. The BoJ also left its policy interest-rate target unchanged in the current range of zero to 0.1%
A statement on monetary policy released after the announcement showed that the Bank of Japan’s nine-man policy board voted unanimously to maintain the interest rate at its current level.
In a statement accompanying the policy decision, the Bank of Japan said it will maintain its ultra-low interest-rate policy while “steadily increasing the amount outstanding of its asset-purchase program,” in order to overcome deflation as early as possible.
Policy makers said the domestic economy was “weakening somewhat” amid softer exports and industrial production, adding that its outlook for the economy was “to remain weak for the time being.”
Following the decision, the yen was higher against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY shedding 0.22% to trade at 81.22.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were broadly mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped 0.45%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index added 0.55%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased up 0.1%.