BOJ expands easy money policy

Japan's central bank will expand its monetary easing, enlarging the scale of its asset-buying program by 10 percent.

The measure is aimed at mitigating the impact of the yen's sharp appreciation and continuing EU debt crisis on the Japanese economy.

The Bank of Japan's policy board meeting on Thursday decided by a majority vote to raise the level of the current program by 5 trillion yen to 55 trillion yen, or about 720 billion dollars.

The bank says the extra funds will be used to buy long- term Japanese government bonds.

This is the first time since August that the Bank of Japan has eased its monetary policy.

Thursday, October 27, 2011 15:18 +0900 (JST)