Bank of Japan freezes interest rate at 0.25% for second straight session...Consideration of Market Uncertainty

The Bank of Japan, the central bank of Japan, froze its key interest rate for the second consecutive time today.

The Bank of Japan held a two-day monetary policy-setting meeting and decided to keep its key short-term policy rate unchanged at 0.25%.

Kyodo News analyzed, "It seems that there is no need to hurry to raise interest rates due to the strong uncertainties in the financial market, such as the U.S. presidential election and the political turmoil in Japan."

The Bank of Japan raised its key interest rate for the first time in 17 years in March, ending its negative interest rate policy, before raising rates to around 0.25% from 0-0.1% at its July meeting.

Since then, interest rates have been frozen for the second time in a row following last month.

In the "Economic Price Situation Outlook," which is released every three months, the Bank of Japan presented a 2.5% increase in consumer prices (based on the basis of fresh food) in 2024 (April 2024 to March 2025) and 1.9% in 2025 (April 2025 to March 2026) and 2026 (April 2026 to March 2027) respectively.

Real GDP growth is expected to be 0.6% in 2024, 1.1% in 2025 and 1.0% in 2026, respectively.