(RTTNews) - Friday, the policy board of the Bank of Japan unanimously decided to retain the overnight call rate at 0.1%, in line with the expectations of economists. The last change in the rate was a 0.1% cut in interest rates at the December 2008 meeting.

In an accompanying statement, the central bank said, "Japan's economy is picking up mainly due to various policy measures taken at home and abroad, although the momentum of self-sustaining recovery in domestic private demand remains weak. In the conduct of monetary policy, the bank will aim to maintain the extremely accommodative financial environment."

The bank said that its baseline scenario showed that the pace of improvement of the economy is likely to remain moderate until around the middle of fiscal 2010. Thereafter, it expects export-driven growth in the corporate sector to spill over to the household sector and the economic growth rate to gradually pick up.

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