Bank of Japan keeps discount rate unchanged

The Bank of Japan (central bank) has again kept the discount rate at the negative level - minus 0.1%, according to the statement of the regulator following its October meeting, Report informs referring to Prime agency.

Following the meeting, eight participants were in favor of maintaining a negative interest rate, one was against it. The Japanese central bank introduced a negative interest rate at minus 0.1% in January 2016.

In addition, the central bank plans to buy an unlimited number of government bonds and continue targeting the yield on 10-year government bonds at a level close to zero.

The regulator also decided to continue the additional buybacks of commercial papers and corporate bonds until the end of March. The maximum volume of redemption is about 20 trillion yen ($176.1 billion) in total, the Central Bank said.

The Japanese central bank also maintained annual ETF buybacks of about 12 trillion yen ($105.6 billion) and real estate investment trust (J-REITs) assets at around 180 billion yen ($1.5 billion).

The Bank of Japan reiterates that it will closely monitor the situation with the coronavirus and will not hesitate to take additional measures to ease monetary policy if necessary. In the short and long term, the Japanese central bank expects to keep the rate at or below the current level.