Investing.com - The Bank of Japan board decided Tuesday by an 8 to 1 vote to leave the bank's policy target unchanged while revising down its near-term inflation outlook on weak energy prices as expected.
Board member Takahide Kiuchi remained opposed to the Oct. 31 increase in the pace of easing.
The collapse of crude oil prices last year has clouded the prospect for the central bank plan to anchor 2% inflation "in about two years" from April 2013, when it launched aggressive easing.
That has caused the BoJ to revised down its near-term inflation outlook.
"The year-on-year rate of increase in the CPI is likely to be about zero percent for the time being, due to the effects of the decline in energy prices."
At the same time however, the BoJ sees the economic recovery intact..
"Japan's economy has continued its moderate recovery trend," the bank said, repeating its recent assessment.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a news conference from 1530 JST (0630 GMT) to 1615 JST (0715 GMT) to discuss the board's decision.