The Bank of Japan said Wednesday its policy-setting panel decided to leave its ultraloose monetary policy unchanged.
While the decision was widely expected, with recent economic data showing cloudy prospects, it was the first time since January 2004 that the Policy Board did not make a unanimous decision.
The Policy Board decided to keep the target for the outstanding balance of banks' deposits at the central bank within a range of 30 trillion yen to 35 trillion yen.