By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The Bank of Japan's policy board unanimously voted Wednesday to keep its key interest-rate target steady at 0.1%, as widely expected, as it gauges the effects of its liquidity-boosting steps on the Japanese economy.
The panel also remained upbeat on its overall economic view.
In a statement issued at the conclusion of its regular two-day policy meeting, the central bank maintained its assessment that the economy has been "picking up, mainly due to improvement in overseas economic conditions and to various policy measures."
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But it also continued to say that domestic private demand lacks sufficient momentum to support a self-sustaining recovery.
As such, the BOJ pledged it would aim to maintain the "extremely accommodative financial environment."
The policy interest rate has remained unchanged since December 2008.
Central bank governor Masaaki Shirakawa reportedly said during a post-meeting briefing that the chances that Japan would suffer a double-dip recession had receded.
In March, the BOJ's statement said the Japanese economy "is picking up," a phrase it tweaked to "has been picking up" in the latest statement.
The BOJ "has taken one step further in its economic assessment as the trend has become clearer that Japan's economy continues to pick up," Shirakawa said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Reuters
At is March meeting, the BOJ voted to increase the total amount of three-month loans offered through a special program to about 20 trillion yen ($221 billion), up from the previous amount of around 10 trillion yen. See full story on Bank of Japan's March meeting.
The BOJ's statement said in a footnote that its assessment of price trend developments would exclude "one-off factors that will disappear in 12 months," such as the Japanese government's policy measures that took effect in the fiscal year that began this month and runs through next March.
For example, such measures such as the introduction of a subsidy to pay high-school fees would cause the year-on-year rate of change in the consumer price index to "fluctuate substantially," the statement said.
The BOJ said in its most recent economic and price outlook report, issued in January, that it expected the core CPI rate to drop at least through the fiscal year ending in March 2012. The central bank's scheduled to release its next outlook on April 30.