2024-04-30 02:31:34
The Bank of Japan kept the key interest rate at the same level following the two-day meeting that ended on Friday, raising inflation forecasts for the current and next financial years, Day.Az reports with reference to Interfax.
The short-term interest rate on deposits of commercial banks is left in the range from 0% to 0.1% per annum, the Japanese Central Bank said in a statement. Experts also expected the rate to remain unchanged, according to Trading Economics.
In March, the Central Bank raised the rate for the first time since 2007; it had kept it at a negative level since 2016. Last month, the regulator also abandoned its 10-year government bond yield targeting.
On Friday, the Bank of Japan said it would continue buying government and corporate bonds in line with previous decisions. In March, he announced that he would gradually phase out purchases of corporate bonds over the course of a year.
The inflation forecast (consumer price index excluding fresh food) for fiscal 2024 was raised by the Japanese Central Bank to 2.8% from 2.4% expected in January, for fiscal 2025 – to 1.9% from 1.8%. In fiscal 2026, this figure will be 1.9%, the Central Bank expects.
Forecasts for the consumer price index excluding fresh produce and energy for fiscal 2024 and 2025 are left at 1.9%. The forecast for this indicator for 2026 is 2.1%.
The Japanese Central Bank expects Japan’s GDP to grow by 0.8% in fiscal 2024 (previously +1.2%), in 2025 – by 1%, as before, and in 2026 – also by 1%.
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