15 June 2010
The Bank of Japan said on Tuesday that its policy board voted unanimously to leave the target for the overnight lending rate among commercial banks unchanged at 0.10% while setting the upper limit of its new lending program for growth areas at Y3 trillion. The BOJ has maintained the target since December 2008, when it lowered it from 0.3% at the height of the global financial crisis.
The BOJ also unveiled more details of its new lending tool that was decided at the April 30 policy meeting and is aimed at increasing commercial banks' incentives to extend loans to innovative firms in growth sectors. The BOJ set the upper limit of this temporary program at Y3 trillion, with each loan disbursement to banks being kept at a maximum Y1 trillion, it said. The central bank will extend one-year loans to private-sector banks at the overnight call rate, which is currently at 0.10%, and they can be rolled over three times
.