The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy-setting meeting Wednesday to assess damage to the economy from a fresh state of emergency over the novel coronavirus amid expectations that monetary easing will be maintained.
The policy meeting is the first since the BOJ announced in December that it will evaluate whether a spate of policy steps that have been taken to attain the central bank's 2% inflation target have been effective. The findings of the latest review are expected to be announced in the next meeting in March.
The state of emergency declared earlier this month will be in place until Feb. 7 for 11 of the country's 47 prefectures, dealing a further blow to the economy, which is emerging from its worst contraction triggered by the previous emergency declaration over the virus last year.