BOJ’s holdings of commercial paper jumped nearly 30% in April

According to the latest data published by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Thursday, the Japanese central bank’s holdings of commercial paper jumped nearly 30% in April, as the bank stepped up measures to support the domestic companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, per Reuters.

Key quotes

Its holdings of commercial paper stood at 3.26 trillion yen ($30.7 billion) as of April 30, up 27.8% from a month ago, the bank’s data showed.

That was much faster than the 16.9% rise in March.

The BOJ’s corporate bond holdings rose 5.27% to 3.39 trillion yen.       

Analysts expect the BOJ to keep ramping up asset buying to prevent credit markets from freezing up.