Policy Responses to COVID-19 and Forward Guidance At the Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM) held in March 2020, when COVID-19 started to exert a severe impact on Japan's economy, the Bank decided to take three measures, including the Special Program to Support Financing in Response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) (the Special Program), and it has continued with them through the addition of amendments (Chart 9).
Concurrently, the Bank introduced a forward guidance that it will closely monitor the impact of COVID-19 for the time being and will not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary, and as for the policy rates, the Bank added that it expects short- and long-term interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels.