bloomberg. iii. the bank's conduct of monetary policy chart 12 continuation of powerful monetary easing ( april 2019 ) high uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices including developments in overseas economies still taking time to achieve the price stability target making clearer the bank's policy stance to persistently continue with powerful monetary easing clarification of forward guidance for policy rates july april " the bank intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short - and long - term interest rates for an extended period of time, taking into account uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices including the effects of the consumption tax hike scheduled to take place in october 2019. " " the bank intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short - and long - term interest rates for an extended period of time, at least through around spring 2020, taking into account uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices including developments in overseas economies and the effects of the scheduled consumption tax hike. " implementation of measures contributing to the continuation of powerful monetary easing smooth implementation of fund - provisioning and asset purchases ( 1 ) expanding eligible collateral for the bank's provision of credit ( 2 ) improving the fund - provisioning measure to support strengthening the foundations for economic growth securing market functioning ( 3 ) relaxation of the terms and conditions for the securities lending facility ( slf ) ( 4 ) introduction of exchange - traded fund ( etf ) lending facility

powerful monetary easing centered on yield curve control. meanwhile, at the mpm held at the end of last month, policy board members shared the recognition that there are high uncertainties regarding the outlook for economic activity and prices in japan, including developments in overseas economies, and that it is likely to still take time to achieve the price stability target. based on this recognition, the bank judged it important to make it clearer that its policy stance to persistently continue with the current powerful monetary easing toward achieving the price stability target has not changed ( chart 12 ). thus, it decided at the april mpm to clarify forward guidance for policy rates introduced in july 2018. forward guidance is a measure that makes clear the stance on future policy rates in advance in order to strengthen market confidence and expectations regarding monetary policy. specifically, a part of the existing guidance was revised, thereby making clear that the bank would " maintain the current extremely low levels of short - and long - term interest rates for an extended period of time, at least through around spring 2020, taking into account uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices including developments in overseas economies and the effects of the scheduled consumption tax hike. " the point of this revision is that a specific period of " at least through around spring 2020 " was added to clarify the meaning of " for an extended period of time, " during which the bank intends to maintain the current interest rate levels. this takes into consideration that ( 1 ) pick - ups in overseas economies and the global cycle for it - related goods are expected to be seen in the second half of this year or onward and ( 2 ) it is projected to take some time to examine the effects of the scheduled consumption tax hike after its implementation. on this basis, i would like to reemphasize that the current forward guidance is a framework in which the bank makes judgments depending on economic and price developments by using data and information available at the time, as it says that the bank will make judgments, taking into account uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices. while economic activity and prices are likely to remain in a state where the current extremely low levels of short - and long - term interest rates would be appropriate, at least through around spring 2020, the bank considers that there is a fair possibility that the current low interest rates will be maintained beyond this period depending on future developments. in addition, the bank also decided at the mpm held at the end of last month to implement various measures contributing to the continuation of the current