BOJ Keeps Policy Intact, Cuts FY 2025 GDP Forecast

   Tokyo, May 1 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan on Thursday decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged while cutting its fiscal 2025 growth forecast for the Japanese economy.
   The nine members of the BOJ's Policy Board, at a two-day meeting from Wednesday, unanimously voted to maintain the policy of guiding the unsecured overnight call rate, Japan's benchmark short-term interbank lending rate, to around 0.5 pct. The policy rate was raised from around 0.25 pct in a decision made in January.
   In its latest quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report, adopted at the Policy Board meeting, the BOJ cut its growth projection for Japan's real gross domestic product for fiscal 2025, which started last month, to 0.5 pct from 1.1 pct in the previous report released in January. The GDP growth outlook was revised down to 0.7 pct from 1.0 pct for fiscal 2026 and the newly disclosed growth projection for fiscal 2027 stood at 1.0 pct.

(2025/05/01-12:40)