The Bank of Japan ended the last fiscal year with more assets than ever before after buying up long-term government bonds as part of its massive monetary easing policy.

The BOJ says it held 736 trillion yen, or about 5.8 trillion dollars, in assets on March 31. That is up nearly 3 percent in yen terms from a year earlier.

The amount of outstanding loans also jumped. The bank has been facilitating the financing of firms hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The level of assets is expected to balloon further.

The bank last month announced it would buy unlimited numbers of 10-year Japanese government bonds at a fixed-rate to keep long-term interest rates from rising.

Observers say the increasing assets may have a large impact on the financial market when the BOJ shifts to tapering the monetary easing.