The Bank of Japan said Thursday it will hold its key interest rate steady at 0.1 percent and pledged anew to keep monetary policy "extremely" easy amid rising pressure from the government to do more to end deflation.
At a two-day policy meeting, the BOJ continued to describe the economy as "picking up" and did not announce any new policy initiatives.
As for the downtrend in prices, the BOJ said it will be a "critical challenge" to overcome deflation and return to sustainable growth.