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.