Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda faces another key test of his decadelong term Friday as he tries to stick with rock-bottom rates without triggering the same kind of yen slide that prompted currency market intervention after last month’s meeting.
Kuroda and his fellow board members will maintain the world’s last remaining negative interest rate among major central banks at the end of a two-day meeting, according to all 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The central bank will also keep its 0.25% cap on 10-year government debt and its asset purchases, they say.
With the European Central Bank expected to deliver an outsized rate hike on Thursday, followed by a similar Federal Reserve move next week, a stand-pat decision will further emphasize the BOJ’s outlier status. That may spark a renewed slide in the yen even though a hold outcome is widely expected.