Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Friday it is too early for the central bank to reverse its ultraeasy monetary policy, despite its forecast that closely watched consumer prices will edge up slightly in fiscal 2005.

The BOJ said in its semiannual Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report, released the same day, that a median projection of the country's core consumer price index by the bank's policy board members was a 0.1 percent rise in the next fiscal year.

This is the first time the central bank has released its CPI outlook for fiscal 2005.