AKIPRESS.COM - The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Tuesday, preferring to spend more time gaging the impact on the economy of its decision in January to deploy negative interest rates, said The Financial Express.

As widely expected, the central bank maintained its pledge to increase base money at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($700 billion). It also left unchanged a 0.1 percent negative interest rate it applies to some reserves financial institutions park at the BOJ.

The BOJ also decided to exempt money reserve funds (MRFs) from the minus 0.1 percent rate and instead apply a rate of zero starting in May.

“Japan’s economy continues to recover moderately as a trend, although exports and production have been sluggish due mainly to the effects of slowing emerging markets growth,” the BOJ said in a statement announcing the policy decision, offering a slightly bleaker view than in January, when the BOJ unexpectedly cut a benchmark interest rate below zero, stunning investors with another bold move to stimulate the economy as volatile markets and slowing global growth threaten its efforts to overcome deflation.