Bank of Japan (BOJ) has decided to maintain its current monetary policy at today’s meeting, as expected by analysts. The central bank kept the policy rate at -0.1% and maintained the yield curve control program. Furthermore, it continued to purchase unlimited 10-year Japanese government bonds to protect the bond yield ceiling at 0.5%.
The decision was made at Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s final meeting as BOJ governor, who will complete his 10-year term on April 8. Experts had already anticipated the continuation of the current monetary policy, and it was not expected for Kuroda to change it in his last meeting.
The monetary policy meeting occurred soon after Japan’s parliament voted to appoint Kazuo Ueda as the new BOJ governor, succeeding Kuroda. There were no changes to the monetary policy, and the yield curve control policy remained uncancelled. It is worth noting that since the BOJ started announcing its monetary policy in 1998, no BOJ governor has modified the policy in their last meeting.
The BOJ’s decision comes at a time when Japan’s economy is recovering from the pandemic-induced recession, and the central bank aims to ensure economic stability through its monetary policy.