BOJ Decides to Raise Policy Rate to 30-Year High

Tokyo, Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan on Friday decided to raise its policy interest rate to a level unseen in 30 years, in its first rate hike since January this year.

At a two-day meeting from Thursday, the BOJ's nine-member Policy Board unanimously decided to hike its target for the unsecured overnight call rate, a key interbank rate, to around 0.75 pct from around 0.5 pct.

The BOJ's policy rate had not exceeded 0.5 pct since September 1995, when the bank lowered its official discount rate, then its policy rate, from 1.0 pct to 0.5 pct.

After its previous rate hike in January this year, the BOJ kept its policy rate intact for six policy-setting meetings in a row.

The latest rate hike will be the fourth since the central bank decided to scrap its negative interest rate policy in March 2024, and the first since the launch in October this year of the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who advocates an aggressive but responsible fiscal policy.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]