TOKYO — The Bank of Japan stuck to its existing monetary policy on Tuesday, confident that it did not need further stimulus to beat chronic deflation even as a sales tax increase clouds the outlook for Japan, the world’s third-largest economy.

The Bank of Japan, the central bank, maintained its upbeat view and affirmed its conviction that the country is on track to meet its 2 percent inflation target by around April next year, signaling that no further easing would happen soon.

It also took note of its own “tankan” survey of thousands of Japanese businesses last week that showed that companies saw a worse impact on consumers from the April 1 sales tax increase than from the previous increase in 1997.

“Japan’s economy continues to recover moderately as a trend, albeit with some fluctuations caused by the tax hike,” the central bank said in a statement announcing the policy decision. “Business sentiment has continued to improve, although some cautiousness about the outlook has been observed.”