The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting Monday and was widely expected to keep its ultraeasy monetary policy in place and upgrade its growth outlook for the next fiscal year.

The central bank has been facing an uphill battle in hitting its 2 percent inflation target. In the outlook report, the BOJ will likely continue to forecast that hitting the goal will remain elusive in the coming years.

Last week, BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda repeated his commitment at a meeting of BOJ branch managers to take additional easing measures if momentum toward the 2 percent goal weakens.