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08:00 GMT
TOKYO, Aug 8 (KUNA) -- Japan's central bank decided Thursday to continue
its monetary policy and left unchanged its assessment of the world's
third-largest economy, amid recovery in consumption and exports on the back of
a weak yen and rising stocks.
At a two-day policy meeting, Bank of Japan's (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda
and his eight board colleagues voted unanimously to maintain its drastic
monetary measures introduced three months ago, according to a statement
released by the BOJ after the meeting.
"The BOJ will continue with quantitative and qualitative monetary easing,
aiming to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent, as long as it is
necessary for maintaining that target in a stable manner," the central bank
said. But the BOJ refrained from taking additional steps, saying it will"
examine both upside and downside risks to economic activity and prices, and
make adjustments as appropriate."
In April, the central bank decided to double the monetary base at an annual
pace of about JPY 60-70 trillion (USD 600-700 billion) and the purchases of
government bonds in two years to spur economic growth and overcome the
country's long-standing deflation. The measures also included more purchases
of risky financial assets, including exchange-traded funds and real estate
investment trusts.
The central bank maintained its view on Japan's economy for August after
upgrading it for seven consecutive months, saying, "The economy is starting to
recover moderately."
In July, the BOJ used the word "recover" to describe the state of the
country's economy for the first time since January 2011, two months before the
March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster devastated the country. "Inflation
expectations appear to be rising on the whole. The year-on-year rate of
increase in the consumer price index is likely to rise gradually," the BOJ
said.
With regard to the outlook, the BOJ said Japan's economy is expected to
recover moderately on the back of the resilience in domestic demand and the
pick-up in overseas economies.
It also pointed out risks to the country's economy, saying "there remains a
high degree of uncertainty," including the prospects for the European debt
problem, developments in the emerging and commodity-exporting economies, and
the pace of recovery in the US economy.
The central bank's drastic monetary easing steps are in line with Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive economic policies called "Abenomics," which
aim to overcome deflation that has lasted more than 15 years and to boost the
Japanese economy. (end)
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