Tokyo  - The Bank of Japan decided Thursday to maintain its key short-term interest rate at 0.1 per cent at the end of a two-day meeting.

The policy board of Japan's central bank voted unanimously to keep the rate unchanged. The bank lowered the rate from 0.3 per cent in December.

The board also decided to buy 3 trillion yen (33.51 billion dollar) of commercial paper from banks and corporations to encourage lending.

Commercial paper is money-market securities issued by banks and companies. (dpa)