The balance of the Bank of Japan's assets rocketed 33.2 percent higher to 106.2 trillion yen in fiscal 1999 due mainly to huge lending to the money market arising from its zero-interest rate policy, the BOJ said Tuesday.
The central bank has been funneling huge amounts of liquidity to money-market participants by purchasing their securities holdings -- from bonds to financing bills -- since Feb. 12, 1999, when it adopted its current monetary policy.
The BOJ said its assets ballooned in the year through March 31 as a result of its policy of guiding the overnight call money lending rate to essentially zero. The surplus assets were also necessary in case the millennium bug caused computer breakdowns at financial institutions.