The Bank of Japan's policy-setting panel kept its ultraeasy monetary stance unchanged Friday to help sustain the country's strongest economic recovery in a decade.

"Our assessment that the economy is continuing to recover is endorsed by economic indexes released since the last meeting (on June 15), including those of capital investment and personal spending," BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui told a news conference.

He said the Policy Board confirmed that it will maintain the so-called quantitative credit-easing policy until the nation's consumer price index rises steadily above zero percent.

After a two-day meeting, the board agreed to continuously inject liquidity into the financial system to shore up the recovery trend, which is the strongest since an economic boom in the late 1980s.

The nine-member board decided unanimously to keep its target for the outstanding balance of banks' deposits at the BOJ to a range between 30 trillion yen and 35 trillion yen.

If the market faces any risk of instability, the BOJ would pump greater liquidity into the financial system than the target, the central bank said.

Asked about the recent rises in long-term interest rates, Fukui said the BOJ will continue to watch them cautiously, despite speculation that the central bank might start to tighten its monetary grip.

The yield on the key 10-year Japanese government bonds hit 1.91 percent Thursday.

Behind the BOJ's decision to maintain its monetary policy stance was the release of the consumer price index Friday. The index was down 0.3 percent in May from a year earlier.