Pedestrians cross a road in front of the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017.

The Bank of Japan announced Tuesday it was keeping its monetary policy steady, a move that was in line with market expectations.

In a statement released following the conclusion of its two-day meeting, the BOJ said it would keep the short-term policy rate unchanged at negative 0.1 percent and the 10-year yield target around 0 percent.

The decision to keep policy unchanged was made following an 8-1 majority vote.

In its quarterly outlook, which was also released on Tuesday, the BOJ noted it would continue with "quantitative and qualitative monetary easing with yield curve control" for "as long as it is necessary" to achieve its 2 percent inflation target.

The central bank said it expected core consumer prices — which exclude food prices — to rise 1.4 percent in fiscal year 2018 and 1.8 percent in 2019, matching its previous forecast, Reuters said, adding that statement was a bit more positive on inflation than previously.

The BOJ expects inflation to reach 2 percent by fiscal 2019.

In a post-meeting briefing, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the economy was not in a situation for the central bank to consider exiting its ultra-easy policy, Reuters reported.

"Japan's economy is expanding moderately, but inflation remains weak. Other countries are facing similar situations but unlike these countries, many of whom are seeing inflation move around 1.5 percent, inflation excluding energy costs is barely above 0 percent in Japan," the news agency cited the BOJ governor as saying.