When QQE was initially introduced, the Bank’s operational guideline was to purchase JGBs so that the Bank’s holdings of JGBs would increase at an annual pace of about 50 trillion yen. The pace was accelerated in October 2014 to about 80 trillion yen a year and this guideline continues to this day.
Given that Japan’s nominal GDP is about 500 trillion yen, JGB purchases of about 80 trillion yen correspond to about 16 percent of Japan’s GDP.