Bank of Japan to announce new credit steps

The Bank of Japan will introduce new emergency measures to help struggling firms borrow money amid a recession in Asia's largest economy, media reports said Monday.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) will hold an extraordinary meeting as early as this week to adopt the steps, public broadcaster NHK and other local media said without naming their sources.
The BoJ announced similar measures to help companies in November 1998 when Japan was hit by a credit squeeze after a number of banks collapsed under mountains of bad debts.
Companies are again facing difficulty in raising funds, with the world's second largest economy officially in recession and banks becoming reluctant to lend. Demand for corporate bonds is also low amid the financial turmoil.