Ueda Speech: BoJ Governor speaks on policy outlook after holding interest rate
Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda is holding a press conference to explain the reasons behind maintaining the key interest rate at 0.5% on Tuesday.
The Japanese Yen holds gains against the US Dollar, with USD/JPY trading 0.10% lower on the day near 144.50, as of writing.
BoJ press conference key highlights
Will respond nimbly in case of rapid rise in long-term interest rates such as by increasing bond buying, conducting fixed-rate bond purchase operations, using fund-supply operations against pooled collateral.
Easy monetary conditions will support economy.
Japan’s economic growth likely to moderate as trade policies lead to slowdown in overseas economy, decline in corporate profits.
Developing story, please refresh the page for updates.
This section below was published on June 17 at 03:31 GMT to cover the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy announcements and the initial market reaction.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced on Tuesday to keep the short-term interest rate target steady in the range of 0.4%- 0.5% after ending its two-day monetary policy review meeting.
The decision was widely expected.
The Japanese central bank extended the pause in its rate-hiking cycle into the third meeting in a row, having delivered a 25 basis points (bps) hike in January.
Summary of the BoJ policy statement
BoJ makes rate decision by unanimous vote.
Japan’s economy recovering moderately, although some weakness has been seen.
Inflation expectations have risen moderately.
Extremely uncertain how global trade policies will evolve and how overseas economic activities will react to them.
Necessary to pay due attention to impact of trade policies on financial, FX markets.
Inflation expectations have risen moderately.
BoJ makes decision on bond taper plan by 8-1 vote.
BoJ board member Tamura dissented to decision on bond taper plan.
BoJ’s Tamura dissented to decision on bond taper plan, saying the bank should allow long-term interest rates to be determined by the market and its participants.
BoJ’s Tamura proposed that the bank reduce the amount of its monthly outright purchases of JGBs by about 400 billion yen each calendar quarter until January-March 2027 in principle.
To reduce amount of monthly JGB purchases by about 200 bln yen each quarter from April 2026 onward.
To reduce amount of monthly JGB purchases so it will be about 2 trillion yen in January-March 2027.
To leave unchanged existing bond taper plan running through March 2026.
Long-term interest rates are to be formed in markets.
Appropriate for the BoJ to reduce bond buying amount in predictable manner, while allowing enough flexibility to support market stability.
To conduct interim assessment of bond taper plan for April 2026 onward at June 2026 policy meeting.
Will respond nimbly in case of rapid rise in long-term interest rates such as by increasing bond buying, conducting fixed-rate bond purchase operations, using fund-supply operations against pooled collateral.
Prepared to amend bond taper plan at future policy meetings if deemed necessary.
Will announce bond taper plan for April 2027 and onwards at policy meeting in June 2026.
Market reaction to the BoJ policy announcements
USD/JPY has come under renewed selling pressure, dropping toward 144.50 in an immediate reaction to the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) status quo on interest rates. The pair is currently trading flat on the day at 144.72.
Japanese Yen PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Canadian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.00% | 0.03% | -0.01% | 0.01% | -0.12% | -0.20% | -0.01% | |
| EUR | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.02% | 0.00% | -0.08% | -0.11% | -0.03% | |
| GBP | -0.03% | -0.01% | -0.06% | -0.00% | -0.09% | -0.16% | -0.03% | |
| JPY | 0.01% | -0.02% | 0.06% | 0.06% | -0.07% | -0.15% | 0.00% | |
| CAD | -0.01% | -0.00% | 0.00% | -0.06% | -0.20% | -0.14% | -0.03% | |
| AUD | 0.12% | 0.08% | 0.09% | 0.07% | 0.20% | -0.04% | 0.05% | |
| NZD | 0.20% | 0.11% | 0.16% | 0.15% | 0.14% | 0.04% | 0.10% | |
| CHF | 0.01% | 0.03% | 0.03% | -0.01% | 0.03% | -0.05% | -0.10% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).
