March 19 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from a focus of reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.
The shift makes Japan the last central bank to exit negative rates and ends an era in which policymakers around the world sought to prop up growth through cheap money and unconventional monetary tools.
Following are excerpts from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:
IMPACT OF BOJ'S DECISION
"Today's decision will only lead to a 0.1% increase in short-term interest rates. We will also increase bond buying nimbly if there is a sharp rise in long-term rates. I don't think deposits or lending rates will rise sharply from today's decision."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
