By www.CentralBankNews.info The Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained its aim of expanding the monetary base by an annual 60-70 trillion yen, along with purchases of Japanese government bonds and other securities, and voiced confidence that the economy was now picking up speed and consumer prices should start to rise.
The BOJ, which launched its “new phase of monetary easing” on April 4, said it would continue with its plan to buy government bonds so the outstanding amount rises by 50 trillion yen a year and the average remaining maturity of these purchases will be about seven years, along with annual purchases of exchange-traded funds worth 1.0 trillion a year and real estate trusts worth some 30 billion yen.
In addition, the BOJ will continue to buy commercial paper and corporate bonds until the outstanding amounts reach 2.2 trillion yen and 3.2 trillion yen, respectively, by the end of this year.
The BOJ, which launched its new, massive quantitative easing plan following last year’s election of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the installment of a new central bank governor, sounded upbeat about Japan’s economy, which has been languishing for years and battling deflation for 15 years.
“Japan’s economy has started picking up,” the BOJ said, adding exports had stopped falling as overseas economies were moving out of a deceleration phase and heading toward a pick-up.
