TOKYO: The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan will do whatever it takes to contain the COVID-19 crisis, Finance Minister Taro Aso and BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in a joint statement on Friday.

The government and the central bank "are committed to making every effort to facilitate corporate financing and maintain stability in financial markets...and doing whatever it takes to settle the situation," Aso and Kuroda said.

They also vowed to work together to bring the Japanese economy back to growth.

The finance minister and the BOJ chief issued a joint statement for the first time since June 2016, when financial markets were rattled by Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

At their joint press conference on the same day, Aso said he and Kuroda agreed at a meeting earlier in the day that the government and the central bank have produced results in efforts to ensure market stability, including the adoption of a 117-trillion-yen emergency economic policy package.

"We must consider ways to get out of the current situation as soon as possible," Aso stressed.

Kuroda said the fiscal and monetary policies are generating synergy effects, adding that the BOJ will take additional monetary easing measures without hesitation, if necessary.

JIJI Press