The economy will stop shrinking but is not expected to grow much during fiscal 2002, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday, with its Policy Board members' gross domestic product forecasts ranging from a contraction of 0.5 percent to growth of 0.2 percent.
Given the continued weaknesses in the economy, the BOJ Policy Board voted unanimously the same day to keep in place its ultra-easy monetary policy, despite signs that the economy could soon bottom out.
The economy will stop deteriorating in the bottom half of the fiscal year, according to the Policy Board's semiannual Outlook and Risk Assessment of the Economy and Prices report, adopted at the board's meeting.