The Bank of Japan and Abenomics: The struggle has just begun (Setsuo Otsuka, Brookings)

On February 16, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), the country’s central bank, implemented a negative interest rate policy for the first time in its history, in accordance with a decision made during its monetary policy meeting on January 29. This monetary easing, which imposes a minus 0.1 percent interest rate on a portion of the new reserve accounts held by private financial institutions at the central bank, is the third major action conducted by the governor of the bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, who took the position in 2013. Kuroda’s first two major actions as governor were significant increases in government bond purchases.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2016/03/10-bank-of-japan-abenomics-otsuka