INTERNATIONAL

Japan Expected to Cut Discount Rate: The Bank of Japan will cut the discount rate by 0.5 percentage points to 2.0%, the lowest level ever for the benchmark interest rate, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. The central bank is planning to lower the discount rate, or the lowest rate that it lends money to member banks, by mid-September. The move is part of a series of economic measures that the government is drawing up to trigger an economic recovery, the newspaper said. The cut would be the seventh in a row. The discount rate has come down from 6% in July, 1991.