TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan (BoJ) held interest rates steady on Friday and said it remained confident of a moderate economic recovery.
The Japanese central bank has unanimously decided to maintain its short-term rate target at 0.25%.
“Private consumption shows a moderately upward trend, despite the increase in prices and other factors,” the institution said in a statement.
This assessment is more optimistic than the previous one, which considered that consumption was resilient.
Japan’s central bank ended its eight-year negative interest rate policy in March and raised its short-term rate target in July.
BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda will speak at a news conference at 3:30 a.m. (0630 GMT).
He had suggested that the institution could continue to raise rates depending on the evolution of the economic situation and the outlook for prices. Such a decision would go against those of other major central banks around the world.
The US Federal Reserve (Fed) on Wednesday lowered its target for federal funds rates by 50 basis points to 4.75%-5.00%.
(Leika Kihara and Kantaro Komiya; Camille Raynaud)
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