The Bank of Japan (BOJ) launched a new 30 trillion-yen ($279 billion) lending program at an emergency meeting to support small businesses struggling with the pandemic.

The Bank of Japan's response to the Corona pandemic has now reached a total of 75 trillion yen, the BOJ said in its monetary policy statement on Friday.

The total volume of the Japanese government's benchmark stimulus package in response to the pandemic was 117 trillion yen.

Like other lending programs launched by the Central Bank of Japan to cope with the repercussions of the pandemic, the new facility will encourage corporate lending by offering the Bank of Japan interest-free loans to commercial banks for one year, in turn providing loans to small and medium-sized financial institutions.

This lending plan is scheduled to remain in force mainly until March 2021, funded by the Bank of Japan and managed by commercial banks.

The BOJ kept the interest rate unchanged at 0.1 percent and asset purchase policy unchanged.

More to mention, BOJ has stated that Central Bank Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will not hold a press conference.

It should be noted that today's economic data showed that consumer prices in Japan contracted for the first time in more than three years.

Data from Japan’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that the annual consumer price index (CPJ) slowed again in April, with the index growing by only 0.1 percent against a forecast of 0.2 percent growth and an earlier reading of 0.4 percent.

National inflation also fell strongly during the same period, marking its first negative value since 2016 with an estimated 0.2 percent contraction. The national consumer price index excluding food prices contracted by 0.1 percent compared to a previous reading of 0.4 percent.

As of 10:02 GMT, the Japanese yen rose against the U.S dollar by 0.11 percent at 107.50, while the highest level recorded during the session was at 107.77.