TOKYO26 April (NHK) – The Bank of Japan says it will leave its monetary policy unchanged. The announcement comes at the end of the BOJ’s two-day meeting on Friday.
The central bank decided to stick to the policy it made in March.
Then the country ended its long-term negative interest rate policy and raised short-term interest rates to a range of zero to 0.1 percent. The bank says it will maintain the target.
Policymakers will also continue to buy Japanese government bonds at roughly the same levels as before.
Meanwhile, the bank has raised its inflation forecast for the 2024 fiscal year, which started in April.
It now expects prices to rise 2.8 percent… up from the 2.4 percent it forecast in January.
This is the average forecast for the consumer price index and excludes fresh food.
The BOJ also raised its forecast for the next fiscal year to 1.9 percent, up from the previous 1.8 percent.
And for the 2026 budget year, the bank expects prices to rise by 1.9 percent.
Investors are now focusing on whether BOJ Governor Ueda Kazuo will signal a policy change at his press conference, scheduled after the meeting.
