The Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided on Friday to maintain its interest rates at an ultra-low level, in a widely expected outcome of the first policy meeting under new Governor Kazuo Ueda.

With the latest decision, the central bank will continue to set short-term interest rates at minus 0.1 percent and guide 10-year Japanese government bond yields to around zero percent.

The bank also projected the country's core consumer price index (CPI) to rise 1.6 percent in the fiscal year starting in April 2025.

(Cover: A general view of the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, July 27, 2022. /CFP)