At an emergency meeting Friday, the Bank of Japan launched a new lending program worth ¥30 trillion ($279 billion) to support small businesses struggling amid the coronavirus but held off from adding major stimulus.
Following data released earlier in the day showing the nation’s key inflation rate falling below zero for the first time in more than three years, the BOJ kept its policy interest rates and asset purchases unchanged.
Instead, it chose to focus on the more pressing task of preventing bankruptcies, saving jobs and stopping an economic recession from turning into a financial crisis.