Investing.com - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the economic outlook for the underlying price trend remained intact despite weak data flows recently.
Kuroda repeated the BoJ would continue with quantitative and qualitative easing with a negative interest rate for as long as necessary to achieve stable 2% inflation, in remarks at a quarterly meeting of branch managers.
"The year-on-year rate of change in the (core) CPI is likely to be slightly negative or about zero percent for the time being, due to the effects of the decline in energy prices, but the underlying trend of prices is expected to rise steadily and accelerate toward 2%," Kuroda said.
The latest data showed that the core consumer price index - excluding volatile perishables - slipped 0.4% for the third straight year-on-year drop in May, as expected. The pace of decline accelerated from -0.3% in April.
Kuroda added that the BoJ "will examine risks linked to economic activity and prices, and take additional policy action in terms of three dimensions - quantity, quality and the interest rate - if it's judged necessary for achieving the price target."
The BoJ will release its quarterly report on economic conditions in Japan's nine regions at 1400 JST (0500 GMT).