BoJ kept its monetary policy unchanged, BoJ Governor Kuroda said the last month’s decision to boost stimulus measures wasn’t a “mistake”

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) released its interest rate decision on Friday. The BoJ kept its monetary policy unchanged. The central bank will expand its monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen.

The BOJ board member Takahide Kiuchi said that it was appropriate to revert to the BoJ's monetary policy before the October 31 decision. The central bank decided on October 31 to increase its monetary base target to an annual increase of ¥80 trillion, up from ¥60-70 trillion, and to boost exchange-traded fund purchases to ¥3 trillion.

The BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said at the press conference that the last month's decision to boost stimulus measures wasn't a "mistake". He added that the decision was based on assumption the government will implement the sales-tax increase.

Kuroda pointed out that the government is responsible for fiscal discipline, and not the central bank.

The BoJ governor noted that consumer price inflation could fall below 1%.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a delay in the sales-tax increase for 18 months on Tuesday, and called a snap election to take place next month. This decision was driven by recent GDP (gross domestic product) figures. Japan's economic fell back into recession. The country's gross domestic product dropped by an annual rate of 1.6% in the third quarter, after a 7.3% fall in the previous quarter.