過度な金利低下抑制、鮮明に＝日銀、国債購入減額も視野

　日銀が行き過ぎた国債市場の金利低下（価格上昇）を抑制する姿勢を鮮明にしている。特に満期まで１０年を超えるような比較的期間の長い国債利回りが低下すれば、年金基金などの資金運用難が深刻化し、国民の将来不安を強めると警戒。日銀は国債利回りの下がり過ぎに対し、買い入れ減額で金利低下に歯止めをかける方針だ。
　日銀が３０日公表した１０月の買い入れ方針では、満期が３年を超える国債について、１回当たりの購入の上限を５００億円引き下げた。買い入れ回数も「必要に応じ変更する」と明記。毎月３～４回行っている買い入れ回数を減らすことも可能とした。（2019/09/30-18:50）

The Bank of Japan is stepping up its efforts to curb excessive falls in Japanese government bond yields.
   The BOJ is concerned that Japanese people's anxieties about their futures will increase further if pension funds face more difficulties managing their assets as a result of declines in yields on JGBs having more than 10 years to maturity, market sources said.
   The BOJ aims to prevent such yields from dropping further by reducing the amount of JGBs it purchases from commercial banks through money market operations, informed sources said.
   In a JGB purchase plan for October that was announced Monday, the BOJ lowered the ceiling for buying issues with remaining maturities of over three years by 50 billion yen per auction.
   The central bank also said it "may change the frequency" of its JGB purchases when necessary, suggesting that it could reduce the buying operations from the current three to four times a month.