LOC10:40
07:40 GMT
TOKYO, Jul 29 (KUNA) -- Japan's central bank decided on Friday to further ease monetary policy to boost the country's economy and end deflation, but unchanged its bond-buying program and interest rates.
Bank of Japan's (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his eight board colleagues agreed to nearly double its purchase of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) at an annual pace of about JPY 6 trillion (USD 58 billion) from the current USD 3.3 trillion (USD 32 billion), according to a statement released after BOJ's two-day policy meeting.
The BOJ unchanged its program to purchase Japanese government bonds, which will make their amount outstanding increase at an annual pace of about JPY 80 trillion (USD 773 billion), the statement said.
The central bank will also keep applying a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 percent to part of accounts held by financial institutions at the central bank, it said.
The negative interest rate, which was introduced for the first time ever from mid-February, aimed at achieving BOJ's 2-percent inflation target and revitalize the Japanese economy.
Meanwhile, in its outlook report published after the meeting, the BOJ said the domestic economy is ecpected to grow 1.0 percent in fiscal 2016 and 1.3 percent in fiscal 2017. "Japan's economy is likely to be on a moderate expanding trend," the central bank said. (end)
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