TOKYO: The Bank of Japan on Thursday left its key rate unchanged at between zero and 0.1 percent and offered details of its 1 trillion yen ($12 billion) lending scheme for banks in quake-hit areas.
In a bid to ensure financial institutions in disaster-hit areas can meet demand for post-quake reconstruction funds, the BoJ earlier this month unveiled the scheme offering 0.1 percent interest one-year loans.
The central bank's policy board decided at its one-day meeting Thursday that each participating bank can borrow a maximum of 150 billion yen of funds. Applications for the funds must be made by the end of October 2011.
The BoJ is expected to downgrade its forecast for real gross domestic product growth due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that plunged Japan into its worst post-war crisis.
Earlier in the month the BoJ warned of the pressures on an economy reeling from its biggest recorded earthquake, a tsunami and nuclear emergency.
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