BoJ provides more scope to ease policy

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has increased the size of its asset purchase facility by a further ¥5 trillion ($66 billion) amid growing downside risks to inflation and a high yen.

At its monetary policy meeting on Thursday, the BoJ's policy board increased the capacity of its asset purchase programme to ¥55 trillion after it raised the maximum outstanding amount of financial assets purchased in the facility from ¥15 trillion to ¥20 trillion. The policy board also decided to amend the terms and conditi