BOJ to work with other central banks to stabilize financial systems

TOKYO, Oct. 8 Kyodo - The Bank of Japan said Wednesday it will closely cooperate with other central banks to secure the stability of financial systems although it will not participate in concerted interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and five other central banks to address the global financial turmoil.

In Japan, policy interest rates are already ''very low'' and monetary
conditions remain accommodative, the Japanese central bank said in reference to
its decision not to join hands with the Fed, the European Central Bank and four
other central banks in Europe and Canada in coordinated rate reductions.
On Tuesday, the BOJ Policy Board decided to leave its target rate for unsecured
overnight call money unchanged at 0.5 percent for the 20th straight month.
In Wednesday's statement, the BOJ also said Japan's financial market has been
stable in comparison with those in other industrialized countries as a result
of its ''decisive'' supply of liquidity.
The BOJ welcomes the six central banks' decision and hopes that their joint
action will help stabilize the financial systems and economies of their
countries, it added.
==Kyodo