
TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan has signaled that it could send rates deeper into negative territory, a move that threatens to trickle down to businesses and consumers if struggling banks respond by imposing their own "negative rates" through account fees.
Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda suggested in a Thursday interview with Nikkei that lowering the central bank's policy rate beyond the current level of minus 0.1% is "always an option" in the event of an economic turn for the worse.