TOKYO, April 26 -- NHK World issued the following news:

The Bank of Japan says it will leave its monetary policy unchanged. The announcement comes at the end of the BOJ's two-day meeting on Friday.

The central bank decided to stick with the policy it made in March.

That's when it ended the long-running negative interest-rate policy, and lifted short-term rates to a range of zero to 0.1 percent. The bank says it will maintain the target.

The policymakers will also continue purchasing Japanese government bonds at about the same level as before.

Meanwhile, the bank has risen its inflation forecast for fiscal 2024 that started in April.

It now expects prices to increase by 2.8 percent...up from the 2.4 percent it predicted in January.

Th...