BOJ leaves monetary policy unchanged, as widely expected

On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) monetary policy board concluded its 2-day January policy review meeting and decided to keep its monetary policy settings unchanged, holding rates at -10bps while maintaining 10yr JGB yield target at 0.00%.

The BOJ vote was 8 to 1, leaving its pledge to buy JGBs unchanged so that its holdings increase at an annual pace of around 80 trln yen.

The decision on maintaining its interest rate targets was made by a 7-2 vote with board members Goushi Kataoka and Yutaka Harada dissenting.

The central bank maintained forward guidance on interest rates, saying “they will remain at current or lower levels for as long as needed to guard against risk momentum for hitting price goal may be lost”.