The Bank of Japan announced today, Tuesday, raising the range of key interest rates to between zero percent and 0.1%, ending years of negative interest rates in the country.

This came at the conclusion of the two-day meetings of the bank's monetary policy committee.

Notably, the decision to raise the Japanese interest rate is the first of its kind in 17 years, representing a significant shift away from the unprecedented monetary easing policy adopted by Japan over the past decade to end deflation, making the Japanese bank the last major central bank in the world to abandon negative interest rates.

Reaching a 2% inflation rate in Japan has become imminent. According to economic analysts, the interest rate change indicates the beginning of monetary policy normalization in Japan, although this may happen slowly in light of the unclear future outlook for inflation.

The previous monetary policy of the Bank of Japan was different from other central banks that sharply raised interest rates over the past two years to rein in inflation caused by disruptions in global supply chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine.

On the other hand, the central bank emphasized in its statement issued today the need to pay attention to the movements of the economy and prices in Japan.