August 7, 2003
Bank of Japan
Policy Planning Office

With the introduction of the Bank's purchases of asset-backed securities from financial institutions, the Bank has established a new item, "Purchases of asset-backed securities," starting from the data for July 2003 released today.

For further information, please contact: Masaki(Mr.) Tel:+81-3-3277-1263 or Fujiwara(Mr.) Tel:+81-3-3277-2184 Planning Division I, Policy Planning Office, Bank of Japan