The Bank of Japan said on Thursday that it would maintain its aggressive monetary easing steps to combat deflation and stimulate the world’s third-largest economy.
“Japan’s economy is recovering moderately,” the central bank said in a statement after a two-day policy meeting.
“Exports have generally been picking up. Business fixed investment is starting to pick up as corporate profits have improved.”
In April, the bank decided to introduce aggressive monetary easing to achieve 2 per cent inflation within about two years in a country which has been plagued by 15 years of deflation.
Consumer prices rose 0.7 per cent in July from a year earlier for the second consecutive month of increase on higher electricity prices amid a weakening yen, the government said. The index was the highest rise since November 2008.