While deflation will slow, the economy is unlikely to move forward beyond a snail's pace through fiscal 2004, the Bank of Japan said Friday.

All but one member of the BOJ Policy Board forecast that prices would continue their four-year slide over the next year and a half.

Eight of the nine projections issued by members for the consumer price index, excluding fresh food, ranged between minus 0.3 percent and minus 0.1 percent on a year-on-year basis for fiscal 2003, while the range for fiscal 2004 was between minus 0.5 percent and minus 0.2 percent.