The Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided on Tuesday to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 0.1 percent.

The widely expected decision was made at the end of the BOJ's two-day policy meeting, where eight-member Policy Board voted unanimously to hold the target rate for unsecured overnight call money unchanged.

According to the central bank's judgment, Japan's economy has "stopped worsening" thanks to the upturns in exports and production, and it is likely to start recovering from the latter half of fiscal 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2009)