Amid concerns over the nation's economic future following the collapse last week of department store operator Sogo Co., the Bank of Japan on Monday once again decided against raising interest rates.
The nine-member Policy Board decided in a majority vote to keep the 17-month-old policy of steering the unsecured overnight call money rate to near zero for at least another month. The rate has not been raised in a decade.
The board decided after seven grueling hours of discussions to keep its policy unchanged because it wants to see more evidence of improvements in employment and household income conditions, the bank said in a statement.