The Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and then announce its decision on interest rates, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.50 percent.
Japan also will see January figures for core machinery orders and industrial production, as well as February data for imports, exports and trade balance. Machine orders are expected to slip 0.1 percent on month and gain 6.9 percent on year after falling 1.2 percent on month and adding 4.3 percent on year in December.
Imports are expected to add 0.1 percent on year after climbing 16.7 percent in January. Exports are called higher by an annual 12.1 percent, accelerating from 7.2 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at 722.8 billion yen following the 2,758.8 billion yen deficit a month earlier.
New Zealand will see Q4 numbers for its current account, with forecasts suggesting a deficit of NZ$6.66 billion - up from the NZ$10.58 billion shortfall in the previous three months.
The central bank in Indonesia will wrap up its monetary policy and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is expected to keep unchanged its benchmark lending rate (5.75 percent), deposit facility rate (5.00 percent) and lending facility rate (6.50 percent).
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March 21, 2025 09:58 ET Central banks, led by the U.S. Fed, were in focus this week as they announced their latest policy moves. The Fed revealed the latest interest rate decision and outlook mid-week. Economic data released this week in the U.S. included retail sales figures for February. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland, among several others, announced their rate decisions. The Bank of Japan was in the news in Asia as it revealed its latest policy decision.