Investing.com - The Bank of Japan held its monetary base steady as expected on Thursday at ¥80 trillion annually, but shun further moves on negative interest rates even as downside risks to a 2% target rise.
The decision to continue massive asset purchases and charging 0.1% interest on a small portion of cash parked by lenders came despite growing downside risks to growth and inflation.
The median forecast by the nine-member policy board was revised down only slightly to 1.7% in core CPI (excluding fresh food) for fiscal 2017 from their January projection for 1.8%.
Despite the weaker price outlook, the BoJ maintained its assessment, saying, "Although inflation expectations appear to be rising on the whole from a somewhat longer-term perspective, they have recently weakened."
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a news conference from 1530 to 1615 JST (0630 to 0715 GMT) to discuss the board's decision.