国际英语新闻：Japan's monetary base surges 16.9% year-on-year in March

TOKYO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The monetary base in Japan surged 16. 9 percent in March from a year earlier, rising for the 31st consecutive month from a 5.6 percent annual increase booked in the previous month, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said in a report on Monday.

Huge amounts of extra liquidity were pumped into money markets following the massive March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that devastated homes, business and infrastructure in the northeast of Japan, as well as sparking an ongoing nuclear crisis.

The BOJ pumped in the funds to ensure there was enough liquidity for banks and other institutions affected by the catastrophe to continue lending to each other.

The average daily balance of the monetary base stood at 112. 7432 trillion yen (1.34 trillion U.S. dollars), with the current account deposit balance expanding 88.7 percent from the previous month's 23.3 percent after increasing 24.5 percent in January, the central bank said Monday.

Japan's monetary base refers to the amount of currency that is either circulated in the hands of people living in Japan or in domestic commercial bank deposits held in the central bank's reserves.

This measure of the money supply typically only includes the most liquid currencies and the Japanese administration maintains a relatively high degree of control over the monetary base by buying and selling government bonds in the open market.

The central bank maintaining very accommodating monetary policies as well as injecting emergency funds into markets has helped facilitate the increase in Japan's monetary base in March.