stand pat

The Japan Times Jan. 24の記事タイトル・サブタイトルから引用します。

BOJ stands pat on policy as quake's economic impact remains unclear
Observers are watching for when the BOJ will start exiting negative rates, amid growing expectations it will likely seek normalization this year.

"stands pat" は初めて見る表現です。たいていの場合、タイトル中で不明な表現は記事の本文を読むと分かるので記事を読みます。冒頭の文を読むと早速 "stands pat" に対応する表現がありました。

In a widely expected move, the Bank of Japan left the world’s last negative rate policy unchanged Tuesday, due in part to uncertainty over how the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1 will affect the Japanese economy.

日銀はマイナス金利政策を変更しないとあります。"stands pat" は変えないの意味ですね。英英辞書で確認します。

・Collins Dictionary: If you stand pat, you refuse to change your mind about something. [mainly US] It makes it hard for the Fed to do anything but stand pat till the economy's direction becomes clearer.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To be unyielding or inflexible in one's opinion, position, or decision.: Despite laying out several convincing arguments, he stood pat on his decision about the project's direction.
・Wiktionary: To resist changes.: China has cut rates and allowed banks to boost lending, while some countries, such as South Korea have stood pat, fearful that inflation pressures could reignite.
Etymology: Probably originally a poker phrase, with "pat" equaling "optimal", meaning that drawing more cards is unnecessary. Later the phrase came to be employed in other spheres. "Stand pat" was actively used in U.S. political campaigns of the 1900s, quickly gaining a sense of "being reactionary, resistant to dramatic changes in policy". Moreover, a noun, standpatter, was coined to denote such politicians.