Japan holds rate steady. China raises interest rate.

December 20, 2007 - Forex Economic News

The Bank of Japan announced that it kept its interest rate steady today. The monetary policy committee voted unanimously(9-0) to hold its rate steady at 0.5 percent. This was the 12th consecutive meeting that the BOJ has held rates unchanged and was generally expected on concerns of a slowdown in economic growth. In its monthly report on Recent Economic and Financial Developments, the BOJ stated that the "economy is expanding moderately as a trend, although the pace of growth seems to be slowing mainly due to the drop in housing investment." Read the BOJ economic report.

Also today, the Chinese central bank raised its interest rate today in a bid to tame inflation. The central bank raised its 1 year lending rate by 0.18 percent to 7.47 percent and its 1 year deposit rate by 0.27 percent to 4.14 percent. This is the 6th time in 2007 that China has raised its interest rate.

Tags: Bank of Japan, BOJ, China, Interest Rates, People's Bank of China, Yuan------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blog index