The Bank of Japan left its main short-term interest rate unchanged at minus 0.1% and maintained its target for 10-year Japan government bond yields at around zero at its April meeting.
The BOJ decided to press on with its monetary easing program to help steer the economy through the coronavirus pandemic. The BOJ made the decision at a two-day policy meeting that ended Tuesday.
It announced it would maintain its negative short-term interest rate and continue buying unlimited amounts of government bonds.
The central bank says it will keep supporting companies suffering from the pandemic.
It says it will closely monitor the pandemic's effects on the economy, and is ready to take more easing measures as needed.
The BOJ also released its quarterly economic report.
It cut its consumer inflation forecast for the current fiscal year to 0.1% from earlier predictions in January of 0.5% as a result of downward pressure on service spending, the bank said.
Japan politicians have warned of lingering risks to the economic outlook as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hurt consumption.
Meantime, the projected rates of rise in the gross domestic product for the current fiscal year were little changed - 4% vs 3.9% in January.
The central bank reaffirmed it would not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary. In 2020, the BOJ eased monetary policy twice, mostly by expanding asset-buying and creating a new facility to deliver funds via financial institutions to companies hit by a coronavirus. source: Bank of Japan
Officials expect the consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, for the fiscal year that started this month to rise just 0.1%, down from the January forecast of 0.5%.
It gave its inflation outlook for fiscal 2023 for the first time. The median forecast is 1%. That would be up from 0.8% expected for the next fiscal year.
