BOJ to Halve Bond Purchase Cuts Amid Rising Yields

- BOJ to halve JGB purchase cuts from April 2026. - Decision targets concerns over rising long-term bond yields, market volatility. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) plans to halve its bond purchase cuts starting April 2026 due to soaring long-term bond yields. This adjustment will reduce quarterly cuts by half, to 200 billion yen ($1.4 billion), and with this change, the BOJ aims to address concerns about rising yields on superlong bonds and bond market volatility. On 2025-06-14, Cryptopolitan reported that the BOJ has been reducing its JGB purchases by 400 billion yen ($2.8 billion) every three months since summer 2024 as part of its quantitative tightening measures. However, market instability, including a record-high 30-year bond yield of 3.2% last month, prompted the BOJ to discuss a slower reduction pace, and the policy board is considering this change to address the increased market volatility. The proposed slowdown in bond purchase cuts would reduce purchases to 200 billion yen every three months. Consequently, the BOJ expects the monthly purchase amount to be approximately 2.1 trillion yen from January 2027. The current tapering plan and the policy rate will likely remain unchanged until March of the next fiscal year, with the BOJ anticipating the policy rate will stay steady at 0.5%. The BOJ started quantitative easing in 2013, which involved significant JGB purchases, and it also introduced yield curve control in September 2016 to keep long-term rates low. The BOJ began adjusting its policies in March 2024 when it ceased bond buying as a direct policy tool and then started reducing monthly purchases in August 2024. Under the current pace, the BOJ projects the purchase amount will decrease to 2.9 trillion yen by January 2026. As of the end of December, the BOJ held about 560 trillion yen in government bonds, equating to 52% of the total outstanding government debt. Despite recent tapering efforts, some critics argue the central bank's holdings remain excessively large. Coinlive also reported this information on June 14, citing Cryptopolitan as its source. According to the Coinlive report on that day, additional context from Reuters indicated that while the BOJ will likely maintain the current pace of asset purchase reductions at its upcoming policy meeting, it is also considering a slower tapering pace from the next fiscal year to minimize market disruptions.