Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said on Friday the central bank will examine whether to maintain its various monetary easing measures, including negative interest rates, when sustained achievement of its inflation target comes into sight.
His remarks follow data on Thursday that showed Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped into a recession in the final quarter of last year on weak consumption and capital expenditure.
Despite the data, with inflation having exceeded the BOJ's 2% target for well over a year, many market players still expect the BOJ to end its negative interest rate policy in the coming months.