April 26 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept interest rates around zero on Friday and highlighted a growing conviction that inflation was on track to durably hit 2% in coming years, signalling its readiness to hike borrowing costs later this year.
The central bank also stuck to its guidance made in March to keep buying government bonds around the current pace, dashing hopes by some traders that it could soon taper purchases partly to slow the yen's declines.
Following are excerpts from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments at his post-meeting news conference, which was conducted in Japanese, as translated by Reuters:
FUTURE MONETARY POLICY GUIDANCE
"As for our future monetary policy guidance, it will depend on economic and price developments at the time. We will scrutinise the economy, prices and their risks, and set short-term rates at each policy meeting."
"If underlying inflation moves in line with our forecasts, we could adjust the degree of monetary easing. If the economy and prices overshoot, that could also be a reason to change policy."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
