Bank of Japan policymakers agreed at their March meeting that the economy was recovering, although some warned of a sharp weakening of consumer sentiment. That's according to the central bank's minutes of the gathering released on Monday.

This gloomy assessment underscored a lack of conviction within the central bank on how much its January decision to adopt negative interest rates could help a stagnant economy and accelerate inflation toward its 2 percent target. The board members agreed that the underyling trend of inflation was improving. But some warned that the BOJ's preferred measurement of consumer inflation, which strips away the effect of fresh food and fuel costs, might start to weaken from "early spring".