BOJ takes more steps to ease credit strains
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TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan unveiled further steps to ease credit strains on Tuesday, as the global financial crisis pushes the world's No.2 economy into its worst postwar recession.
The central bank kept interest rates at 0.1 percent by a unanimous vote, as widely expected.
The BOJ said it would expand the range of eligible collateral to include loans on deeds to the government and those with government guarantees. It will also accept loans on deeds to municipal governments as collateral for market operations.
BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will hold an embargoed news conference later in the day, with his comments expected to come out some time after 4:15 p.m. (0715 GMT).
Companies have been facing difficulty raising funds despite efforts by the BOJ to revive credit, with those surveyed in the central bank's March tankan corporate sentiment survey saying funding in the market was the tightest ever. [ID:nT189222]
Central banks throughout the world are turning to or contemplating non-conventional measures such as asset purchases to keep credit flowing as the option to cut already low policy rates diminishes. (Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
