BOJ expands easing steps to cushion economic impact of coronavirus

TOKYO, April 27 Kyodo - The Bank of Japan decided Monday to take additional easing steps for the second straight month, including abolishing its limit on buying government bonds and further expanding its asset-purchasing program, to cushion the economy from the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The BOJ said in a statement it scrapped its annual ceiling of 80 trillion yen ($745 billion) on the amount by which it can increase its balance of government bond holdings to provide ample liquidity to stabilize the financial markets and stem a possible surge in yields. "The BOJ will buy an unlimited amount of government bonds if necessary to stabilize long-term interest rates at around zero percent" under its monetary policy of yield curve control, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters following its policy meeting. He also said the BOJ will take additional easing measures if necessary to ensure stable financial markets in Japan and achieve its 2 percent inflation target. "We will maintain (the unlimited buying of government bonds) for an extended period of time," he added. The move follows a similar decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve last month to expand its buying of government bonds to an unlimited amount and the Japanese government's endorsement of an emergency economic package worth 117.1 trillion yen. "In this crisis situation, it is important to take actions along with the government, just as seen in Europe and the United States," said Kuroda. "We will do whatever we can." The removal of the annual purchase target for government bonds is seen as largely symbolic, given that the BOJ has not recently increased its purchase of them by more than 20 trillion yen per year. But the abolition will give the BOJ more flexibility to buy bonds as necessary to prevent a possible spike in long-term interest rates, as the government plans to issue 23.36 trillion yen of deficit-covering bonds to fund the economic package. The BOJ has pledged to buy bonds in a flexible manner to conduct yield curve control operations, by which it guides long-term interest rates to around zero percent. The central bank additionally raised the limit on corporate asset purchases to help companies secure funds amid the continuing spread of the pneumonia-causing virus. It lifted its target for corporate bond and commercial paper purchases to about 20 trillion yen in total until the end of September, up from a total of 7.4 trillion yen introduced in March. It decided last month to introduce further easing measures for the first time in over three and a half years. The BOJ also decided to boost loans to financial institutions by expanding the range of eligible collateral to 23 trillion yen as of late March, up from 8 trillion yen decided in last month's meeting. However, it left its short-term interest rates unchanged at minus 0.1 percent and its annual target for exchange-traded fund purchases at up to 12 trillion yen. In its quarterly economic and inflation outlook report released following Monday's policy meeting, the BOJ downgraded its growth forecast for fiscal 2020 through March 2021 to between minus 3 percent and minus 5 percent from the 0.9 percent growth initially projected in January. "Japan's economy is likely to remain in a severe situation for the time being due to the spread of the novel coronavirus at home and abroad," the report said. The International Monetary Fund said earlier this month that the Japanese economy is projected to shrink 5.2 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, its worst contraction since 2009, while the global economy is expected to contract by 3.0 percent. The BOJ expects the country's economy to rebound in fiscal 2021 and grow between 2.8 percent and 3.9 percent. The BOJ released its inflation outlook for the three years through fiscal 2022 and said that prices are not expected to exceed its 2 percent inflation target. In fiscal 2020, the consumer price index will fall into negative territory at between minus 0.3 percent and minus 0.7 percent, it said. "It will take some time for inflation to grow, but I don't think the price trend will be deflationary as our board members say it is likely to pick up in fiscal 2021 and 2022," said Kuroda, adding the central bank will closely monitor developments amid the global spread of virus infections. The BOJ said Thursday it would shorten its initially planned two-day meeting from Monday to a one-day event as part of efforts to prevent virus infections among its board members. ==Kyodo