the bank of japan boj headquarters is seen beyond the cherry blossoms in tokyo on march 20 2023 the bank of japan left its interest rates unchanged in newly appointed governor kazuo uedas first policy meeting the decision was in line with economist expectations for no changes to the benchmark interest rate which has been held at 01 since the central bank took rates below zero in 2016 the central bank also kept the tolerance range for 10year japanese government bonds unchanged at 50 basis points above and below its target of 0 in december the central bank shocked global bond markets by unexpectedly widening its tolerance range for 10year japanese government bonds from 25 basis points to 50 basis points above and below 0 ueda has emphasized inflation needs to be quite strong and close to 2 the central banks target before making any adjustments to the yield curve control policy reuters reported the central bank purchased more than 1 trillion worth of jgbs to defend its monetary policy last year there remains some uncertainty in the japanese real economy but at the same time inflationary pressures is becoming more imminent hiromi yamaoka a former official at the bank of japan and the current head of future institute of research told cnbcs squawk box asia on friday ahead of the announcement