December 17, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1424

TOKYO, Dec 16: Japan’s central bank on Tuesday said its policy board left unchanged its current accommodative monetary policy stance while forecasting a slow recovery for the world’s second-largest economy.

With little ammunition left to fight deflation, the Bank of Japan repeated its mantra that, if necessary, it would put up however much money it might take to stabilize the financial markets.

In a statement, the central bank said that the board decided by a unanimous vote at the end of a regular two-day board meeting to leave policy unchanged.

The bank said it would conduct money market operations aiming at an outstanding balance of current accounts held at the bank of around 27 to 30 trillion yen ($250 to $278bn), the same upper limit as indicated in the previous policy meeting held November 21.

“Should there be a risk of financial market instability, such as a surge in liquidity demand, the bank will provide more liquidity irrespective of the above target,” it said in a statement.—AFP