TOKYO — In a bid to shore up a deflation-plagued economy, Japan’s central bank eased monetary policy further Wednesday by increasing a loan program for banks.

The move sets the country, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, on a path divergent from those of other industrialized nations.

Central banks around the world have in recent weeks contemplated rolling back stimulus steps put in place during the global economic crisis, gradually shrinking excess liquidity in their banking systems. The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it would let a mortgage-security purchase program expire at the end of March in the United States.

But in Japan, where prices have remained sluggish in a lackluster recovery from the country’s worst recession since World War II, the government has urged the monetary authorities to stimulate the economy further by flooding the banking sector with cash.