The Bank of Japan announced that inflation had reached 2% and characterized it as the first achievement since the target was introduced in 2013. Going forward, it decided to shift the policy focus from pushing up prices to stabilizing them and leave the policy rate unchanged at approximately the current level of 1.25%.
The Bank of Japan announced its view that inflation had reached 2% and explained that this was the first time inflation had reached the 2% level since the 2013 introduction of the price stability target. The Outlook report stated that underlying inflation would remain around 2%, and that the outlook also assumed stable inflation near 2%.
At this monetary policy meeting, the Bank decided to leave the policy rate unchanged at approximately 1.25%. It also indicated a policy of increasing the pace of ETF sales from the previous level to approximately ¥860 billion annually. The Bank explained that it would continue operating toward achievement of the price stability target while reducing the intensity of its monetary easing.