OSAKA (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday retracted his earlier remark that the bank’s guidance to keep interest rates at “present or lower levels” will stay unchanged for two to three years.
“It won’t be that long, such as two to three years,” Kuroda told a news conference in Osaka, western Japan, when asked how long the BOJ could keep the guidance unchanged.
At last week’s news conference in Tokyo, Kuroda said the BOJ likely won’t change its guidance on interest rates for “two to three years”.
The BOJ currently pledges to guide policy rates at current or lower levels, while keeping an eye out on the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic “for the time being”.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Catherine Evans)
