BOJ keeps policy on hold, sticks to recovery view

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan
kept monetary policy unchanged on Thursday and maintained its view that
the country's economy is gradually picking up, signaling its conviction
that solid domestic demand will help a recovery resume without
additional stimulus.
As widely expected, the central bank
maintained its key policy rate in a range of zero to 0.1 percent by a
unanimous vote, and held off on easing monetary policy further.
The
BOJ fine-tuned its asset-buying and lending program, pledging to buy
more short-term securities while reducing the amount it offers under
fixed-rate market operations. It kept the total size of its
asset-buying and lending program unchanged at 70 trillion yen ($879
billion).
In a quarterly review of its forecasts, the BOJ cut
its core consumer inflation projection for the year ending next March
to 0.2 percent from 0.3 percent expected in April. It maintained its
forecast of 0.7 percent consumer inflation for next fiscal year.
BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa
will hold an embargoed news conference later on Thursday with his
comments expected to come out some time after 4:15 p.m. (3.15 a.m. EDT).
The
BOJ eased policy in February and April via increases in its
asset-buying program in largely symbolic moves to show its
determination to achieve its 1 percent inflation target.
The
central bank issues long-term economic and price forecasts in a
semiannual report in April and October of each year, and revises them
in January and July. - Reuters