2 Minute Read by Reuters Staff (Reuters) – TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) – On Friday, the Bank of Japan lowered its growth prediction for this fiscal year but maintained its belief that the economy is on track for a moderate rebound, signaling that monetary policy will remain on hold for the time being. The BOJ also unveiled an overview of a new program aiming at increasing funding for climate-change-related initiatives during its two-day rate review, which ended on Friday. According to the concept, it will offer zero-interest funding for a year that can be rolled over an unlimited number of times to financial institutions that increase loans or investments to combat climate change. The central bank kept its yield curve control (YCC) objective of -0.1 percent for short-term interest rates and 0 percent for 10-year bond yields unchanged, as predicted. The BOJ stated on Friday that the economy will grow 3.8 percent in the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2022, and 2.7 percent the following year, according to new quarterly predictions announced on Friday. The BOJ had previously predicted that the GDP will grow 4.0 percent this fiscal year and 2.4 percent the following year in April projections. (Leika Kihara, Tetsushi Kajimoto, and Daniel Leussink contributed reporting.) Chang-Ran Kim edited the piece.)/n
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