The Bank of Japan Policy Board said Wednesday it will maintain its virtually zero interest rate policy while putting off additional monetary easing to cope with the impact of Europe's debt crisis and the yen's sharp rise.
Despite agreeing by a unanimous vote to leave its key short-term interest rate at zero to 0.1 percent, the central bank acknowledged that the fallout from fragile economies overseas is clearly being felt on domestic soil.
"Japan's economic activity has continued picking up, but at a more moderate pace mainly due to effects of a slowdown in overseas economies," the BOJ said in a statement following the two-day meeting of its board members.