It's interest rate city over here right now — with the Bank of Japan announcing it has decided to end its negative interest rates policy.

It's the first time Japan has seen an interest rate hike since 2007, and is a landmark shift away from its stimulus program.

The decision also makes Japan the last country to ditch negative interest rates, which were designed to stimulate economic growth.

However, despite the "increase" to the cash rate, it still keeps rates around zero, with its economy forcing the BOJ to slowly deliver any further rise to borrowing costs.

The decision by the BOJ was widely expected, and sees the central bank ditch a policy put in place since 2016 that applied a 0.1% charge on some excess reserves financial institutions parked with the BOJ, Reuters notes.

With inflation having exceeded the BOJ's 2% target for well over a year, many market players had expected the central bank to exit its ultra-loose monetary policy in March or April.

The exact interest rate rise will be announced later this afternoon, with BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda holding a press conference to discuss the decision later in the day.