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The Bank of Japan (BoJ) was a bit late today in announcing its decision, so the financial market was speculating that something big might be coming today. However, the central chose to tweak its current Qualitative and Quantitative Easing (QQE) that introduce fresh dosage of stimulus. According to the statement,
- Interest rates were kept on hold at minus 0.1 percent, although further rate cuts are not ruled out.
- The scale of its QQE program was also kept on hold, with overall asset purchases at ¥80tn a year. However, the central bank the scrapped the maturity target in its bond-buying program, which should ease the pressure on banks as a consequence of negative interest rates. Currently, the average remaining maturity of the government bonds the BoJ buys is set at 7-12 years.
- The timeframe for reaching 2 percent inflation target, which has been repeatedly pushed back since being first announced in April 2013, has now been set as “the earliest possible time”.
Before the announcement, the yen traded as strong as 101 per dollar, however, after the policy, it has somewhat weakened due to yield curve control by the BoJ and is currently trading at 102.4 per dollar.
