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The
BOJ buys 90 billion yen ($818.3 million) of REITs annually as a
part of its stimulus program. In spite of more than three years
of aggressive easing, however, the central bank has not reached
its inflation target of two percent and economic growth has
hardly accelerated.
As its REITs portfolio kept expanding, the BOJ scrapped its
long-held rule to limit ownership of each REIT to within five
percent in December, a move opposed by three of its nine board
members.
In the following month, the BOJ took additional easing steps by
introducing negative interest rates.
After three years of massive asset purchases by the BOJ,
Japanese markets have become increasingly dominated by the
central bank.
The BOJ is also thought to own more than five percent of many
listed Japanese shares through its buying of exchange traded
funds (ETFs) though its holdings are not made public because the
central bank is not buying shares directly.
(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano and Hirotoshi Sugiyama; Editing by
Jacqueline Wong)
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