Jiji -- Sep 22
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda defended the BOJ's yield curve control on Thursday, the first anniversary of the key item in the bank's ultraeasy monetary policy regime.
The yield curve control, designed to guide short-term interest rates to minus 0.1 pct and long-term rates to around zero pct, has had "positive effects on the economy," Kuroda told a news conference.
Earlier in the day, the BOJ decided by a vote of eight to one to leave its monetary policy intact, including the yield curve control, which involves massive Japanese government bond purchases.
Kuroda said the current policy helped fuel an increase in bank lending and economic growth.
Economists and market watchers say the policy has caused a sharp decrease in JGB trading, hurting the market's functioning. But Kuroda said no major problem has occurred.
News source: Jiji

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