Tokyo, April 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Japan policy board voted 7-2 to cut itsbenchmark interest rate for the first time in six months when it met Feb. 28, minutes ofthe meeting said. The decision to lower the interbank overnight loan rate by 10 basis points to 0.15 percentcame less than three weeks after the board voted 6-3 against lowering the rate. At theFeb. 28 meeting, the bank also cut its more symbolic discount rates one-tenth of a pointto 0.25 percent. ``Downside risks to the economy have increased further,'' the minutes of the meetingsaid. ``It would be appropriate for the bank to slightly reduce its interest rate target atthis meeting from the point of conducting policy in a timely and flexible manner.'' At its following meeting on March 19, the policy board voted to guide the benchmark rateto close to zero, and raise its target for banks' current account reserves it holds to 5trillion yen ($40 billion) from 4 trillion yen to inject more money into the economy. The policy will be kept until consumer prices stop declining, which some analysts saymight take at least two to three years. The BOJ has also since downgraded its outlook for the economy. In its monthly report,released Monday, the bank said the slowdown of industrial production has become morepronounced as exports fall. The central bank's downgrade of the economic outlook follows a similar move by thegovernment, which Friday gave its gloomiest verdict in more than five years, saying theeconomy was weakening. The BOJ stopped short of that, conceding only that theeconomy was going through an ``adjustment'' that would last for some time. Today's minutes show Eiko Shinotsuka and Nobuyuki Nakahara voted against cuttingrates, for different reasons. Shinotsuka proposed keeping the overnight rate unchanged and doubling the amount ofbonds the BOJ buys each month from investors to 800 billion yen ($6.5 billion) untilconsumer prices stopped falling. Her proposal was defeated 7-2. Shinotsuka has since left the board, after her three-year term finished on March 31. Shewas replaced by Miyako Suda, a professor of economics. At the latest board meeting,and the first since the zero-rate policy was reinstated, members voted unanimously tokeep policy unchanged. Nakahara proposed lowering the key overnight rate as low as possible and cutting thediscount rate to 0.1 percent. His proposal was defeated 8-1. The minutes also showed that one board said a weaker yen might be an option to helpthe economy. The board next meets on April 25, and will release its twice- yearly outlook for economicgrowth and inflation the following day.