March 16, 2020
By Leika Kihara and Takahiko Wada
TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan called an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss steps to stabilize markets, hours after unscheduled rate cuts by U.S. and New Zealand central banks, as policymakers ramp up efforts to combat the widening fallout of the coronavirus.
The meeting, to be held from 12 p.m. (0300 GMT), will replace the scheduled rate review on March 18-19, the BOJ said in a statement released on Monday. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is expected to hold a news conference after the meeting.
At Monday’s meeting, the central bank’s nine-member board will likely discuss measures to smooth corporate financing and stabilize financial markets, a source familiar with its thinking said.
The BOJ’s review comes in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency 100-basis point rate cut to near zero on Sunday, which was followed hours later by an unexpected 75 basis point easing by the New Zealand central bank, underscoring policymakers’ worries of a world economy unraveling rapidly amid the epidemic. [L1N2B80FD]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the government will work closely with the BOJ to take “bold, unprecedented” measures to mitigate the pain the epidemic is inflicting on the world’s third-largest economy.
Sources have told Reuters the BOJ was ready to expand monetary stimulus by ramping up asset purchases and take steps to ensure small and midsize companies to not face a shortage of funds ahead of the March 31 fiscal year-end.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher & Shri Navaratnam)
