Moreover, in October 2010, the Bank established the Asset Purchase Program (hereafter the Program), a new framework through which the Bank purchases various risk assets, such as government securities, commercial paper (CP), corporate bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and Japan real estate investment trusts (J-REITs) in order to encourage a decline in longer-term interest rates and various risk premiums.
The Bank increased the total size of the Program by about 5 trillion yen to about 40 trillion yen in March 2011, immediately after the earthquake, and by about 10 trillion yen to about 50 trillion yen in total in August in light of various risks, such as the effects of uncertainty regarding overseas economies and of the rapid appreciation of the yen on business sentiment as well as on economic activity.