El Banco de Japon agrega un estimulo monetario en su esfuerzo por enfriar al yen.
El banco expandio su compra de activos a $189 billones. Tambien expandio sus creditos para enfriar al yen.
Bank of Japan Adds Monetary Stimulus, Supporting Effort to Cool Yen Gains
QBy Keiko Ujikane and Aki Ito - Aug 4, 2011 1:12 AM ET .
BOJ Expands Asset-Purchase Fund by 5 Trillion Yen Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
The Bank of Japan added monetary stimulus after authorities intervened to stem an advance in the yen to protect the nation’s economic recovery.
The central bank expanded its asset-purchase fund to 15 trillion yen ($189 billion) from 10 trillion yen, according to a statement in Tokyo today. It also expanded a credit facility by 5 trillion yen to 35 trillion and kept its benchmark interest rate near zero. It ended the meeting a day earlier than scheduled after the government intervened.
The yen tumbled more than 2 percent against the dollar after Japan unilaterally sold its currency. Its move came a day after the Swiss central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates to stem gains in the franc.
“The concerted action between the MOF and the BOJ should be taken as a clear sign that both the government and the BOJ do not want to break the current economic recovery due to the unacceptable yen appreciation,” Masaaki Kanno, chief Japan economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo and a former BOJ official, said before the decision.
It was the first time the central bank expanded the asset- buying fund, its main policy tool, since March, when it stepped up purchases to combat a plunge and stocks and a surge in the yen after the earthquake and tsunami. The fund buys financial assets ranging from government bonds to real-estate investment trusts.
Sony Sales
Sony Corp., Japan’s largest exporter of consumer electronics, is among companies that have lowered sales forecasts because of a stronger currency that is reducing its global competitiveness. Even Toyota Motor Corp., which raised its full-year profit forecast by 39 percent, estimates a 15-yen change in the exchange rate over the past year has “blown off” 300,000 yen, or $3,900, in profit on a $20,000 car.
“Frankly speaking, losing 300,000 yen per vehicle is a real drag,” Senior Managing Officer Takahiko Ijichi said in Tokyo this week.
Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda and BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa yesterday faced criticism from lawmakers in parliament about their inability to halt the yen’s climb toward a postwar high, moves politicians said would hurt the nation’s rebound and encourage companies to move factories and jobs overseas.
To contact the reporter on this story: Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at
kujikane@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Panck