Gist of BOJ monetary policy decisions+

TOKYO, Dec. 19 Kyodo -
The following is the gist of the decisions made by the Bank of Japan's Policy
Board at a two-day meeting that ended Friday.
The BOJ Policy Board decided to:
-- lower the unsecured overnight call rate target to 0.1 percent from 0.3
percent by a vote of 7 to 1.
-- lower the basic loan rate applicable under the complementary lending
facility, through which banks borrow directly from the BOJ, to 0.3 percent from
0.5 percent.
-- continue to pay 0.1 percent interest on the current account deposits of
banks held at the BOJ in order to prevent the main lending rate from falling
excessively while the bank injects liquidity into money markets.
-- purchase commercial paper outright to support companies' cash flow.
-- expand outright purchases of long-term Japanese government bonds to 16.8
trillion yen per year (1.4 trillion per month) from 14.4 trillion yen per year
(1.2 trillion yen per month).
==Kyodo