Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Japan interest rate cut

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 31, 2008 at 8:06 AM
Advertisement

TOKYO, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The Bank of Japan Friday cut its key interest rate to 0.3 percent from 0.5 percent, the first such cut in seven years, to boost Japan's sluggish economy.

The cut applies to rates on unsecured overnight call money. Central banks of other advanced countries have made similar cut in their key interest rates in the face of the current global financial crisis.

BOJ Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa voted in favor of the cut after the bank's policy board remained split 4-4, Kyodo news service reported.

The bank also approved a number of credit-easing steps such as interest payment on commercial banks' reserves deposited with it to allow for more liquidity into money markets.

The rate cut would also help check the appreciation of the yen against major world currencies. A lower yen helps strengthen Japan's export-driven economy.

Friday's rate cut is the first since March 2001. The prior 0.5 percent rate had remained unchanged for 20 months.

The bank's action comes following the government's 27-trillion yen or $276 billion package to stimulate the economy.

Topics: Masaaki Shirakawa
Recommended Stories
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The making of the Oscars The Chicago Auto Show The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China
Additional Business News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
Time to load up on beer, milk, bread and beer, north Atlanta is in for massive blizzard with up...
Bill would force teachers to comply with FCC regulations. in related news, Miss Lipshiatz is about...
When you yell "bingo," you better be damn sure you have bingo. Cause if you don't, we will find...
Trading crack for a lapdance, yelling racial slurs, assaulting police, spitting blood, and beating...
History will remember George H.W. Bush for his part in the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin...
And now, pictures of dogs underwater