Bank of Japan Decides to Keep Interest Rates

The Bank of Japan decided at its monetary policy meeting held today, by a majority vote, to fix negative interest rates at -0.1% on current accounts held by financial institutions with the bank in the short term.

The bank also decided to control long-term interest rates, by purchasing the required amount of Japanese government bonds without committing to a maximum purchase, so that the government bond interest remains around 0%, and with regard to asset purchases, it also decided to buy from index funds and Japanese real estate trust funds, by adding Net 12 trillion yen, or 180 billion respectively, on outstanding balances within a year at the latest.