Bank of Japan maintains stimulus program but lowers inflation outlook

The Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged on Friday, causing a knee-jerk reaction in the yen and it fell down to 120.29, before surging later.

In a 8 – 1 vote, the BoJ left its stimulus program as is. The current pace of asset purchases is at about ¥80 trillion annually. The asset-buying has been the BOJ’s primary weapon in a two-and-a-half-year effort “reflate” the world’s third-largest economy by flooding it with cash.

The BoJ downgraded its projections for the country’s growth and inflation, citing a slowing global economy as a threat to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic revival program.

Noting substantial uncertainties, the BOJ lowered its forecast for real economic growth for the current fiscal year ending in March to 1.2% from 1.7%. It also again pushed back the time frame during which it expects to achieve its 2% inflation target, from around the middle of the next calendar year to the second half of the 2016 fiscal year.

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