The Bank of Japan's nine-member board is scheduled to begin its two-day policy meeting at 2 p.m. JST on Monday, March 18 (0500 GMT/1 a.m. EDT the same day). On the first day, board members will focus on the economic and financial conditions in Japan and overseas for about two hours. They will discuss the conduct of monetary policy on the second day from 9 a.m. JST (0000 GMT March 19, which is 8 p.m. EDT Jan. 22) for over two hours. The bank is expected to announce the results of the meeting sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. JST on Tuesday, March 19 (0230 and 0400 GMT the same day/10:30 p.m. on Monday, March 18 and midnight EDT on Tuesday, March 19).

The previous two-day meeting ended at 12:02 p.m. JST (0302 GMT) on Jan. 23, which was 10:02 p.m. EST on Jan. 22 (North America switched to the daylight-saving time on March 10).

Governor Kazuo Ueda is expected to hold a post-meeting news conference for about an hour from 1530 JST on Tuesday, March 19 (from 0630 GMT/0230 EDT until 0730 GMT/0330 EDT the same day).

The Bank of Japan’s nine-member policy board holds eight two-day Monetary Policy Meetings a year, in January, March, April, June, July, September, October and December. At each meeting, the board votes on the proposals on the bank’s monetary policy stance and the basic guideline on how to achieve the policy target submitted by the chair of the board, who is the bank governor. The board also votes on any proposals from other members. The first day of the meeting starts at 1400 JST and ends around 1600 JST. On the second day, the meeting begins at 0900 JST but no end time is set. It usually lasts for two and a half to three hours and can go on for a few more hours.

Markets can move going into each meeting on expectations for a shift in the bank’s policy stance or tweaking of policy tools. If the meeting lasts longer than usual, speculation for a possible change in policy may arise in the markets.