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TOKYO - JAPAN'S central bank said on Friday it was cutting its key interest rate by 20 basis points to 0.30 per cent, stepping up efforts to shield Asia's largest economy from the global financial crisis.
The Bank of Japan's monetary policy board was evenly split on whether to lower interest rates, so the final decision was taken by governor Masaaki Shirakawa, the bank said in a statement.
The BOJ also decided to start paying interest on commercial banks' excess reserves held on account as part of continued efforts to ease strains in the money market.
It was the first interest rate cut by the Japanese central bank since March 2001, when it introduced an unprecedented policy of almost free credit to try to pull the economy out of the deflationary doldrums. -- AFP
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