Tokyo, July 21, 2022, SPA -- The Bank of Japan kept its ultra-loose monetary policy stance unchanged and raised its inflation outlook on Thursday, according to the dpa. The policy board, governed by Haruhiko Kuroda, voted 8-1 to stick to a negative interest rate of -0.1% on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank. The bank will also continue to purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around 0%. The bank will purchase 10-year JGBs at 0.25% every business day through fixed-rate purchase operations, unless it is highly likely no bids will be submitted. In the latest outlook report, the BoJ raised its inflation outlook for the forecast period. The bank forecast consumer prices less fresh food, to climb 2.3% instead of 1.9% estimated previously. In FY2023, inflation is seen at 1.4% next fiscal, up from 1.1% estimated in April. Similarly, the projection for FY 2024 was lifted to 1.3% from 1.1%. The real GDP outlook for fiscal 2022 was downgraded to 2.4% from 2.9%. However, the bank raised its outlook for 2023 to 2.0% from 1.9% and that for 2024 to 1.3% from 1.1%. --SPA 11:39 LOCAL TIME 08:39 GMT 0006 www.spa.gov.sa/w1764650