Review of Extending Maturities of the Purchase/Sale of Japanese Government Securities with Repurchase Agreements

September 12, 2003
Bank of Japan

In the current money market operations of the Bank of Japan, the maximum maturity of outright purchases of bills¹ as well as treasury bills and financing bills is 1 year, while that of the purchase/sale of Japanese government securities² with repurchase agreements is 6 months.

At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, views were expressed that it should be desirable to extend the maturity of the purchase/sale of Japanese government securities with repurchase agreements from the viewpoint of conducting money market operations in a flexible manner for the maintenance of financial market stability under the quantitative easing framework.

The Chairman instructed the Bank staff to study the issue of extending the maturity of the purchase /sale of Japanese government securities with repurchase agreements and report the result at the next Monetary Policy Meeting.

1. Bills issued by financial institutions accompanied with eligible collateral.
2. The Japanese government securities include Japanese government bonds with coupons, treasury bills and financing bills.