The Bank of Japan (BoJ) released its December monetary policy meeting minutes on late Tuesday evening. According to minutes, there was a split over supplementary measures. 6 of 9 board members voted for the implementation of these supplementary measures.

The central bank said in December that the average maturity of the Japanese government bonds was increased to seven to 12 years from seven to 10 years, and that it would annually purchase ¥300 billion of ETFs (exchange-traded funds) issued by companies that are making investment in physical and human capital. This decision was not expected by analysts.

Board members shared the recognition that the Japanese economy continued to expand moderately.

Board members noted that consumer price inflation was about 0% and it "was likely to remain at this level for the time being due to the effects of the decline in energy prices".

The BoJ decided to keep unchanged its interest rate at its December meeting.