TOKYO -- Japan's Central Bank voted unanimously Friday to leave monetary policy unchanged but analysts warned radical action is needed to halt a long slide in prices, which threatens to stifle a fragile economic recovery.

After a two-day meeting, the Bank of Japan's Policy Board voted for the eighth straight time to maintain current levels of liquidity in the financial system. The amount of targeted reserves in its current account were held at around 10 to 15 trillion yen ($82.6 billion to $124.0 billion), AFP reported.

"Should there be a risk of financial market instability, such as a surge in liquidity demand, the bank will provide more liquidity irrespective of the guideline above," it said in a statement unchanged from recent months.

Analysts said the Central Bank appeared content to rely on a recent pick-up in exports to lift the economy. But fundamental problems such as persistent deflation and a banking system buried under a mountain of bad loans still weigh on recovery prospects.

"They must do something different and very aggressive," said Credit Suisse First Boston senior economist Christopher Walker, suggesting a massive increase in the level of targeted current account reserves to as much as 30 trillion yen.

Walker said the BOJ may later regret its decision to leave policy unchanged. Any decision to expand liquidity would take time to have an impact on prices. "(Additionally) they should target inflation at one-to-two percent, that is not a bad guide to have," he said. "But they are very far from doing that at the moment."

Japanese consumer prices fell 0.7 percent in June from a year earlier, marking the 34th consecutive monthly decline in year-on-year terms.

The Central Bank's monetary policy decision had no impact on the foreign exchange market.

"It came out just as expected and it was no surprise," said Kazuhiro Kaneko, dealer at Trust and Custody Service Bank.