TOKYO: The Bank of Japan (BOJ) purchased a record amount of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) last fiscal year, as the central bank tried to fend off investors’ attack on its ultra-low rate policy.

The BOJ’s outright purchases of JGBs rose to an all-time high of 135.989 trillion yen ($1.02 trillion) in the year through March, almost double the amount a year earlier, a BOJ filing showed on Monday.

The BOJ, which remains an outlier in a global wave of central banks tightening monetary policies, was forced to make massive bond buying to defend its policy cap on the 10-year Japanese government bond yield.

With the country’s inflation already exceeding the BOJ’s 2% target, investors bet that the BOJ’s yield curve control (YCC) policy, under which it controls benchmark 10-year JGB yield, was not sustainable.

JGB yields rise as buying spree pauses; futures drop

Speculation for a BOJ policy change accelerated in December after the bank widened the trading band of the 10-year JGBs to 0.5% from 0.25%.

In the previous fiscal year, the central bank made purchases of 72.87 trillion yen in JGBs.