Japan's central bank maintains monetary easing

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Friday decided to maintain its monetary easing policy amid inflation shock and the Russia-Ukraine war's impact on global economy.

Unlike other major central banks such as the US Fed and Bank of England which shifted to tighter policy and hiking interest rates, the BOJ did not change its monetary policy, keeping the policy rate unchanged at minus 0.1.%.

Japan's central bank also plans to keep purchasing Japanese government bonds without a limit and equities worth up to 12 trillion yen ($101 billion) a year.

"Japan's economy has picked up as a trend, although some weakness has been seen in part, mainly due to the impact of COVID-19," the BOJ said in a statement.

It also acknowledged that amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, global financial and capital markets have been volatile and prices of commodities such as crude oil have risen significantly, "and future developments warrant attention."

Japan's wholesale inflation reached 9.3% in February, the highest in 41 years. Consumer inflation is also projected to rise above 2% after April.

The bank aims to achieve the price stability target of 2%.