BoJ lifts next year’s growth forecast

Markets are focusing on governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s (pic) post-meeting briefing for hints on what could come out in the review.

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan (BoJ) kept monetary policy steady yesterday and revised up its economic forecast for next fiscal year, signalling that it has delivered sufficient stimulus for now to cushion the blow from the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the central bank warned of escalating risks to the economic outlook as new state of emergency measures rolled out this month hit consumption and threatened to derail a fragile recovery.