To tackle the first and the second challenges, the Bank of Japan instituted its Growth Foundation Strengthening Facility (GFSF) in June of last year and adopted Comprehensive Monetary Easing (CME) in October.
To meet the challenge of “cyclical-stabilization”, the first part of the CME changed the guidance for the policy rate from 0.1% to the range between 0 and 0.1%, making clear the Bank’s Virtually Zero-Interest Rate Policy (VZIRP).