Bank of Japan

Bank of Japan Announcement
Released on 12/2/2008

Highlights
At an extraordinary meeting, the Bank of Japan voted to keep its key interest rate at 0.3 percent but said it would loosen the Bank’s standards for accepting corporate bonds as collateral to help domestic firms facing severe fund raising conditions. The Bank said that it will ease the criteria on credit ratings from A-rated or higher to BBB-rated or higher for accepting corporate bonds as collateral to help domestic firms facing severe fundraising conditions. The BoJ also decided to provide unlimited funds that are collateralized by corporate debt by an interest rate that is equal to the central bank's policy rate. The move comes after BoJ governor Masaaki Shirakawa signaled his concern on Monday that fund raising conditions for domestic companies have grown less accommodative as banks worry about counterparty risks and investors become generally more risk-averse.

Definition
The central bank of Japan makes it monetary policy decision at the end of its meetings. There is no specific time for the announcement.