Bank of Japan Governor: Mortgages Not Expected to Rise Significantly After End to Negative Interest Rate Policy

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:51 JST, March 21, 2024

The Bank of Japan does not expect lending rates, including those for house mortgages, to rise substantially even after the end of its negative interest rate policy, central bank Governor Kazuo Ueda told the upper house Finance and Monetary Affairs Committee on Thursday.

Ueda was speaking in the Diet for the first time after the BOJ decided to end its massive monetary easing measures at a policy meeting on Tuesday.

“The increase in short-term interest rates due to the policy change will be limited to about 0.1%. The monetary easing environment will remain for the time being,” Ueda said, indicating that interest rates are expected to remain low in the future.

The BOJ plans to continue its purchases of Japanese government bonds at the same level as before. “The BOJ’s outstanding JGB holdings will generally remain unchanged,” Ueda said.