The Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged and raised its inflation outlook on Friday.
The policy board unanimously decided to hold the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0 to 0.1 percent.
The board also voted to conduct its bond purchase programme in line with the decisions made at the March meeting.
In the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report, the bank said inflation is set to rise through fiscal 2025 driven by the rise in crude oil prices and waning of the effects of government's economic measures.
The bank today upgraded its inflation outlook for the fiscal 2024 to 2.8 percent from 2.4 percent. Likewise, the projection for the fiscal 2025 was lifted to 1.9 percent from 1.8 percent. Inflation is seen at 1.9 percent in the fiscal 2026.
At the same time, the bank lowered its growth projection for the fiscal 2024 to 0.8 percent from 1.2 percent. The economy is forecast to expand 1.0 percent in both the fiscal 2025 and 2026. The forecast for the fiscal 2025 was thus retained from the previous projection.
Economic News