EMC’s Business Finance blog

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold at the first meeting chaired by Masaaki Shirakawa amid concern the economy slid into recession.

Shirakawa, the House today as Governor, and his six colleagues on the left key lending rate at 0.5 percent, the central bank said in a statement in Tokyo. The decision was unanimous.

Shirakawa May want to gather more evidence before they decide whether the world’s second largest economy needs the first rate cut in seven years. The latest economic data were mixed, with export growth and the acceleration of inflation as corporate sentiment fell to a four-year low and production cooled.