TOKYO: The Bank of Japan decided to keep its current massive monetary easing policy unchanged on Thursday.

At the end of its two-day policy-setting meeting, the BOJ Policy Board voted eight to one to keep its short-term policy interest rate at minus 0.1 percent and guide 10-year government bond yields around zero pct.

The Japanese economy “has started to pick up with economic activity resuming gradually, although it has remained in a severe situation” due to the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic at home and abroad, the BOJ said in a statement released after the meeting.

At the time of the Policy Board’s previous policy-setting meeting in July, the central bank said the Japanese economy was “in an extremely severe situation” due to the virus crisis.

Since March, when the COVID-19 outbreak became serious in the country, the BOJ has launched a series of measures aimed at supporting corporate financing, including the expansion of corporate bond and commercial paper purchases.

JIJI Press