BOJ raises interest rates, lays out bond taper plan
12:18 am Wednesday, July 31st, 2024
TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan raised interest rates on Wednesday and projected inflation to stay around its 2% target in coming years, signaling its resolve to steadily unwind a decade of massive monetary stimulus.
At the two-day policy meeting that ended on Wednesday, the central bank also laid out a detailed quantitative tightening plan that will reduce monthly bond buying in several stages to around 3 trillion yen ($19.6 billion) as of January-March 2026.
The nine-member board decided to hike the overnight call rate target at 0.25% from 0-0.1% by a 7-2 vote.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a news conference at 0630 GMT to explain the decision.
($1 = 153.0900 yen)
(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Makiko Yamazaki, Mariko Katsumura, Kantaro Komiya, Satoshi Sugiyama, David Dolan, Kaori Kaneko and Sakura Murakami; Editing by Sam Holmes)
