The Bank of Japan said on Friday it would maintain its aggressive monetary easing steps to overcome deflation and prop up the nation’s economy.
The central bank also maintained the nation’s economic assessment, saying the economy was still “recovering moderately.” The bank decided in April to introduce aggressive monetary easing measures to achieve 2-per-cent inflation within about two years in a country which has been plagued by 15 years of deflation.
Consumer prices rose 0.8 per cent in August from a year earlier for the third straight month of increase on higher electricity and other energy prices amid the yen’s decline. The consumer price index was the highest rise since November 2008.