BOJ decides to further ease monetary policy

TOKYO - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) Wednesday decided to further ease its monetary policy.

The BOJ's Policy Board voted unanimously, during a two-day policy meeting to ease its monetary policy by increasing its asset purchase program to 80 trillion yen ($1 trillion) from 70 trillion yen.

The central bank also announced to keep its key interest rate unchanged at between zero and 0.1 percent.

The BOJ downgraded its assessment of the country's economy as the global economic prospect worsened.