Japan's central bank keeps key rate unchanged, raises bond purchases

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis　

TOKYO, March 18 (Chinese media) -- The Bank of Japan (BOJ), or the central bank, left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.1 percent Wednesday.

It is the third consecutive month that the BOJ kept the rate the same.

At the central bank's two-day policy meeting, the BOJ's eight-member Policy Board voted unanimously to leave the target rate for unsecured overnight call money unchanged.

The BOJ also decided to raise its outright purchase of long-term government bonds to 1.8 trillion yen (18.3 billion U.S. dollars) per month from 1.4 trillion yen to boost liquidity in the money market and curb a rise in long-term interest rates, it said in a statement.

However, with the key interest rate at a near-zero level, the central bank has been left not too much leverage. It cut the key rate last October and December and had outright purchase of commercial papers and corporate bonds from financial institutions.

But it projects that the economy will start recovering from the latter half of fiscal 2009, with price declines abating as global financial markets regain stability and overseas economies move out of their deceleration phase, according to the statement.