The Bank of Japan said Friday that an economic slowdown in China and some other countries is beginning to weigh on exports and production at home.

After a two-day meeting, the central bank's board decided to maintain its monetary policy of asset purchases and ultralow interest rates, measures aimed at lifting stubbornly low inflation.

It maintained its headline assessment that the economy is "expanding moderately," but warned that exports and industrial output have been "affected by the slowdown in overseas economies."