BOJ Holds Policy Intact, Ups FY 2022 Inflation Forecast

Economy Politics

Tokyo, April 28 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan decided Thursday to keep its current monetary easing policy unchanged, while raising its fiscal 2022 inflation forecast.

The BOJ will continue its yield curve control scheme to guide the benchmark yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds around zero pct while imposing a short-term policy interest rate of minus 0.1 pct.

Following its two-day policy-setting meeting through Thursday, the central bank said it will offer to buy unlimited amounts of 10-year JGBs at a fixed yield of 0.25 pct "every business day...unless it is highly likely that no bids will be submitted," in a bid to keep long-term interest rates in check.

In the meeting, BOJ policymakers examined the impact of higher materials costs and import prices, traced to the yen's depreciation, on the domestic economy, such as corporate earnings and personal consumption.

In a quarterly report released the same day, the median forecast among BOJ policymakers on annual growth in the core consumer price index for fiscal 2022 came to 1.9 pct, up from the January projection of 1.1 pct. The projected rise partly reflects the fading effects of mobile phone rate cuts by major domestic carriers.

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