BOJ Continues to Hold Rates Steady in Light of U.S. Tariffs

Tokyo, Oct. 30 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan decided Thursday to keep its policy interest rate unchanged while raising its gross domestic product growth outlook for fiscal 2025.

The BOJ kept the status quo for the sixth consecutive policy-setting meeting, as it apparently found it necessary to continue carefully monitoring the impact of higher U.S. tariffs.

At the two-day policy meeting through the day, the BOJ's Policy Board voted seven to two to maintain the policy of guiding the unsecured overnight call rate to around 0.5 pct.

Policy Board members Hajime Takata and Naoki Tamura proposed raising the rate target to around 0.75 pct, as they did at the previous meeting in September, but this was rejected.

The latest meeting was the first since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office this month. It was attended by economic and fiscal policy minister Minoru Kiuchi.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]