* BOJ maintains base money target as widely expected
* Loner Kiuchi proposes cutting pace of asset purchases
* Gov Kuroda upbeat on economy, sees no need to change timeframe
* Adds economy stronger than when BOJ eased last October (Adds more Kuroda quotes, details)
By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan maintained its massive stimulus programme on Wednesday and brushed aside speculation of near-term policy easing, even as inflation ground to a halt and growth stalled two years into its radical experiment to revive the economy.
Concern over diminishing returns from aggressive money printing led one board member to propose reducing its asset purchases, which was voted down 8-1 but underscored the waning conviction that the BOJ will be able to meet its ambitious inflation target.
While its initial timeframe for hitting 2 percent inflation has passed, the BOJ maintained that prices will gradually rise as the economy recovers and higher wages prompt households to boost spending.
After the bank's widely expected decision to leave policy unchanged, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stuck to his guns.
"The broad trend in prices is steadily improving," he told a news conference, adding that there was no change to the BOJ's aim of reaching its inflation target at the earliest date possible "with a timeframe of two years in mind."
He also said the economy was in much better shape than in October last year, when the BOJ surprised markets by expanding stimulus in response to weak household spending and a sudden slowdown in inflation driven by slumping world oil prices.
"Risks that we saw back in October last year have subsided for now," he said, dispelling speculation that renewed signs of weakness in the economy may spur the bank into action as early as its next meeting on April 30.
NEW TIMEFRAME ELUSIVE
When it launched the stimulus programme in April 2013, economists likened the move to firing a monetary bazooka. The BOJ pledged to achieve 2 percent inflation in roughly two years in a country mired in 15 years of deflation.
The BOJ has been buying bonds and other assets aggressively since then and now aims to boost base money - or cash and deposits at the central bank - by 80 trillion yen ($666 billion) a year, expanding its balance sheet by an amount equal to the size of Australia's economy.
But the economy remains fragile, casting doubt on the BOJ's argument that its asset purchases will pull Japan out of stagnation by nudging households and companies to spend more.
The BOJ now says inflation will hit 2 percent around this fiscal year ending in March 2016. But even that timeframe appears elusive as prices are seen staying flat or falling for much of this year on low energy costs and tame wage growth.