Bank of Japan keeps interest rate at negative level

The Bank of Japan again kept the interest rate at a negative level-minus 0.1%, Report says, citing the financial regulator's statement following the December meeting.

Eight participants of the meeting were in favor of maintaining a negative interest rate, one-against. The Japanese Central Bank introduced a negative interest rate of minus 0.1% in January 2016.

The regulator also decided to extend the additional repurchase of commercial securities (cp) and corporate bonds for six months, until the end of September 2021. The maximum volume of repurchases is about 20 trillion yen in total, the Central Bank said.

Moreover, the regulator plans to buy an unlimited number of government bonds and continue to target the yield of 10-year government bonds at a level close to 0%. Depending on the dynamics of economic activity and prices, and the return may rise and fall to some extent.

The Japanese central bank also kept the annual volume of repurchases of securities of exchange-traded investment funds (ETFs) at about 12 trillion yen and assets of real estate investment trusts (J-REITs) — about 180 billion yen.