The Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years – Kommersant

The Central Bank of Japan adopted today solution on raising interest rates, thereby ending the long-standing policy of negative interest rates that was introduced to support the country’s economy. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the policy, combined with injecting funds into the economy and keeping borrowing costs low, had “fulfilled its role.” By the bank’s decision, the overnight interest rate was raised from –0.1% to 0–0.1%, and this is its first increase since 2007. Japan was the last country to still have a negative interest rate.

The Bank of Japan notes that there is a “positive cycle” of gradual increases in prices and wages, wages and company profits are growing, and “we forecast stable and sustainable inflation at 2%.” “The Japanese economy has recovered moderately,” the bank said in a statement.

Analysts quoted AP, expect that the country’s central bank will not rush to make any large-scale changes to lending policy, but will closely monitor price changes. They also agree that the decision to raise rates will improve the performance of financial markets, but the impact on the real economy will be limited. The Nikkei 225 stock index so far reacts with a slight increase of 0.7%, the dollar exchange rate against the yen remains at about ¥150 per $1.

Read about the situation in the country in the material “The Japanese Prime Minister became the first from the end”.

Alena Miklashevskaya