Bank of Japan scraps radical policy, makes first rate hike in 17 years

A Japanese flag flutters at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. - AP

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from trying to reflate growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.

While the move was Japan's first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery will force the central bank to go slow on any further rise in borrowing costs, analysts say.