Tokyo, Dec. 18, (dpa/GNA) – Japan’s central bank decided on Friday to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy to stimulate the coronavirus-hit economy and overcome deflation.
“Japan’s economy has picked up, but the pace of improvement is expected to be only moderate while vigilance against the novel coronavirus continues,” the Bank of Japan said in a statement issued after a two-day monetary meeting.
The bank also decided to extend its program to support corporate funding by six months to September 2021 as the country has been facing a resurgence of coronavirus infections.
In May, the bank decided to pump more money into banks to help them provide loans to corporations amid the economic fallout from the pandemic.
The Japanese economy expanded an annualized 22.9 per cent in the third quarter, marking the first growth in four quarters following a record 29.2-per-cent contraction in the April-to-June period.
GNA