TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan on Tuesday kept ultra-low interest rates intact in a widely expected move, as it awaits more data on whether wage growth will accelerate enough to keep inflation sustainably around its 2% target.
It lowered its forecast for growth in core consumer prices for the coming fiscal year starting in April, to 2.4% from the 2.8% board members forecast in October.
At the two-day meeting that ended on Tuesday, the BOJ maintained a 0.1% interest charged on financial institutions’ excess reserves, and a 0% target for the 10-year government bond yield around 0% set under its yield curve control (YCC) policy.
It also maintained a 1.0% upper bound for the 10-year yield.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda is expected to hold a press conference to explain the decision at 3:30 p.m. (0630 GMT).
(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
