The Bank of Japan maintained its monetary policy Thursday, as its assessment remained that the country's economy is gradually picking up driven by firm demand related to reconstruction after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The BOJ's Policy Board voted unanimously, during a two-day policy meeting which concluded on Thursday, to maintain its key short-term interest rate at around zero to 0.1 percent and decided to keep the size of its asset purchase program at the current 70 trillion yen.

The meeting was the first monetary policy meeting since the government officially appointed two private-sector economists, Takahide Kiuchi and Takehiro Sato, as Policy Board members.