BOJ Members Back Maintaining Easing Policy at Jan. Meeting

Tokyo, Jan. 26 (Jiji Press)--Bank of Japan policymakers, at a monetary policy meeting on Jan. 17-18, said one after another that the central bank needs to stick to its current easing regime, according to a summary of opinions at the meeting released Thursday.

One policymaker said it is necessary to continue the current policy, given that it will still take time to attain the 2 pct inflation target sustainably. Some other BOJ Policy Board members also expressed their views that the easing policy should be maintained.

Speculation had grown that the BOJ might tweak its policy further at the policy meeting, about a month after the central bank decided to widen its tolerable range for long-term interest rates, set as part of its yield curve control under the superloose monetary policy, at the Dec. 19-20 meeting.

At the January meeting, the BOJ kept the range unchanged, while deciding to expand fund provision to commercial financial institutions.

One policymaker said the expansion will help stabilize interest rates, and another said the BOJ should curb interest rate rises with the expansion.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]