Japan’s central bank has ended eight years of negative interest rates, in an overhaul of one of the world’s most aggressive monetary easing programmes that sought to encourage bank lending and spur demand.
In its first interest rate hike in 17 years, the Bank of Japan [BOJ] said it was lifting its short-term policy rate from -0.1% to between zero and 0.1%, although analysts said a fragile economic recovery meant it would continue go slow with any further rise in borrowing costs.
