BOJ raises interest rates, lays out bond taper plan

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan raised interest rates on Wednesday and projected inflation to stay around its 2% target in coming years, signaling its resolve to steadily unwind a decade of massive monetary stimulus.

At the two-day policy meeting that ended on Wednesday, the central bank also laid out a detailed quantitative tightening plan that will reduce monthly bond buying in several stages to around 3 trillion yen ($19.6 billion) as of January-March 2026.

The nine-member board decided to hike the overnight call rate target at 0.25% from 0-0.1% by a 7-2 vote.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a news conference at 0630 GMT to explain the decision.

($1 = 153.0900 yen)

(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Makiko Yamazaki, Mariko Katsumura, Kantaro Komiya, Satoshi Sugiyama, David Dolan, Kaori Kaneko and Sakura Murakami; Editing by Sam Holmes)