TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s consumer price index fell 0.9 percent in March from a year earlier, underlining the challenge of ending a long spell of debilitating deflation despite an onslaught of monetary easing and stimulus spending.

Citing expectations that the policies will soon turn take hold, the central bank raised its inflation forecast for the coming two years. The Bank of Japan, whose policy board met Friday but left monetary policy unchanged, said it expects inflation to hit a 2 percent target within that time despite uncertainties in both the domestic and global economies.