Bank of Japan Maintains Ultra-Loose Monetary Policy
Japan’s central bank maintained its ultra-loose policy and left rates unchanged on Friday, mindful of the “extremely high uncertainties” on the growth outlook domestically and globally.
In a policy statement after its September meeting, the Bank of Japan said it would maintain short-term interest rates at -0.1%, and cap the 10-year Japanese government bond yield around zero, as widely expected. The Japanese central bank is scheduled to hold a press conference later Friday, where Governor Kazuo Ueda could offer more forward guidance.
“With extremely high uncertainties surrounding economies and financial markets at home and abroad, the Bank will patiently continue with monetary easing, while nimbly responding to developments in economic activity and prices as well as financial conditions,” the Bank of Japan said in its policy statement Friday.
The Japanese central bank’s ultra-loose monetary position though, marks Japan as an outlier among major central banks, which have raised interest rates in the last two years to control spiraling inflation.
Partly as a result of this policy divergence between the BOJ and the rest of the world, the Japanese yen slipped about 0.4% to about 148.16 against the dollar after Friday’s decision, while 10-year Japanese government bond yields were largely unchanged. The yen has now weakened more than 11% against the greenback this year to date.
The BOJ’s policy decision Friday came at the end of a week that was dotted with a flurry of other central bank policy decisions, including the U.S. Federal Reserve’s pledge to hold high rates for longer and the Bank of England ending a run of 14 straight interest rate hikes.
At its previous policy meeting in July, the BOJ loosened its yield curve control to allow longer term rates to move more in tandem with rising inflation in Ueda’s first policy change since assuming office in April