TOKYO, July 20 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady and pushed back again the timing for achieving its 2 percent inflation target on Thursday, reinforcing expectations it will lag well behind major global central banks in dialling back its massive stimulus programme.
Following is a table of median forecasts by the BOJ's nine board members of gross domestic product (GDP) and core consumer price index (CPI) at a quarterly review of its long-term economic and price projections.
Previous forecasts issued in April are in parentheses (all year-on-year percentage changes): REAL GDP CORE CPI FY 2017/18 +1.8 +1.1 (+1.6) (+1.4) FY 2018/19 +1.4 +1.5 (+1.3) (+1.7) FY 2019/20 +0.7 +1.8 (+0.7) (+1.9) *The core CPI excludes the effect of volatile fresh food prices but includes oil costs. The CPI forecast for fiscal 2019 excludes the effect of a scheduled sales tax hike in October 2019 to 10 percent from 8 percent.
(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)