*  *  *  Introduction At the Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM) held on March 8 and 9, 2006, the Bank of Japan decided to terminate the quantitative easing policy, which had been maintained during the five years since March 2001.
The Bank shifted the operating target of money market operations from the outstanding balance of current accounts at the Bank to a short-term interest rate, namely, the uncollateralized overnight call rate. It also introduced a new framework for the monetary policy conduct, including clarification of its thinking on price stability.