The Bank of Japan has wrapped up a two-day policy meeting -- the first since Ueda Kazuo became its governor earlier this month.

Policymakers say they are leaving the central bank's easing program unchanged. They also announced that they will conduct a review of their measures.

The central bank will keep its short-term benchmark interest rate in negative territory. And it will continue asset purchases to keep long-term rates "around zero percent".

The yield on 10-year Japanese government bond will be allowed to fluctuate in a range of around plus or minus half a percentage point.

Former governor Kuroda Haruhiko widened the range to the current level last December to correct a side effect caused by years of ultra-loose policy. But the BOJ has had to intervene on repeated occasions to prevent the benchmark yields from exceeding the cap.

Meanwhile, the bank has raised its inflation forecast for the current fiscal year which started in April.
It now expects prices to increase by 1.8 percent, up from the 1.6 percent it announced in January.
This is the median forecast for the consumer price index and excludes fresh food, which fluctuates in price due to weather.

The Bank of Japan has also decided to conduct "a broad-perspective review" of its monetary policy, with a planned time frame of "around one to one and a half years". It has continued the easy-money policy for a long time, after the country fell into deflation.