Japan's central bank steps up stimulus

Policymakers held a one-day session on Monday, instead of their regular two-day meeting, to deal with the urgent situation.

The BOJ said its purchases of government bonds are now unlimited. The expansionary move is in line with the government's emergency economic measures that include issuing more government bonds.

Another part of the BOJ's asset-purchase program aims to help with the funding needs of companies struggling amid the pandemic. The central bank will boost its buying of corporate bonds and commercial paper up to 20 trillion yen, or about 185 billion dollars, by the end of September.

The measures come as a call by the government for people to limit their outings and decisions by companies to halt factory production affect small businesses and large corporations alike.

Furthermore, the BOJ has sharply revised downward its outlook on Japan's GDP growth for this fiscal year. Its projection sees a contraction of 3 to 5 percent. The previous outlook from January expected an expansion of 0.9 percent.

The US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are also scheduled to hold policy meetings this week.

One focus will be on what form their additional easing measures will take. The coronavirus is causing severe economic woes in the US and Europe, where infections are more widespread than in Japan.