TOKYO - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided on Thursday to keep its key interest rate unchanged at zero to 0.1 percent.  

The Japanese central bank refrained from taking further monetary easing steps in a two-day policy board meeting, as was forecast by the market.  

The BOJ has not taken monetary easing steps since a meeting on April 27, when it expanded its asset buying program by 5 trillion yen (about $63.38 billion) to 70 trillion yen.  

The central bank predicted the world's third largest economy would grow 2.2 percent in the current fiscal year ending in next March 2012.