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11/02/2024 03:34:31 pm

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Bank of Japan Maintains Stimulus Program, Keeps Inflation Forecast

Bank of Japan / Haruhiko Kuroda

(Photo : REUTERS/Toru Hanai) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda attends a news conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo July 15, 2014.

Japan's central bank, Bank of Japan (BOJ), announced during its regular news conference on Tuesday that it will maintain its vast stimulus program and hold on to its forecast that the country's inflation will hit the 2 percent target in 2015.

During a news conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the bank will maintain its vast stimulus program even as it earlier announced that Japan's economy was recovering.

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Kuroda earlier repeatedly said he will add to the stimulus if necessary as the unprecedented easing gave the deflation-plagued Japanese economy a shot in the arm.

Japan's economic activity took a hit after the Japanese government raised its sales tax last April, but economists said the country has started to recover from the sales tax hike.

"Japan's economy is expected to continue a moderate recovery as a trend, while it will be affected by the subsequent decline in demand following the front-loaded increase prior to the consumption tax hike," BOJ said in a statement.

The BOJ earlier said that the effects of the consumption tax hike are expected to wane gradually as Japan's economy is poised to continue its moderate recovery trend.

Despite the central bank's announcement that the country's economy was recovering, Japanese policymakers unanimously decided to lower its growth forecast for the current fiscal year.

Even the BOJ itself lowered its growth forecast for the country's economy to 1.0 percent from an earlier forecast of 1.1 percent.

Japan is also facing a decline in business confidence following the April 1 sales tax increase, which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed for to help the ailing economy.

The latest Tankan survey conducted by the BOJ showed that confidence of Japanese businessmen dropped since April, the first decline in six quarters.

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