Bank of Japan keeps record easing as oil price tumble challenges Kuroda

The Bank of Japan maintained unprecedented stimulus, as Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's bid to stoke inflation faces increasing challenges from the tumble in oil prices. The central bank will boost the monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($670 billion), it said in a statement, as forecast by all 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The slide in oil could weigh on consumer price gains in the first half of the year starting in April, Kuroda said on Friday.

Exports have shown signs of picking up, while production has started to bottom out, the BoJ said, striking a more upbeat tone in its view of the world's third-largest economy. Oil has lost more than a quarter of its value since the central bank boosted easing on October 31 to end a "deflationary mindset."