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BOJ board member calls for more monetary easing

The Bank of Japan should further expand its massive stimulus program to hit the 2% inflation target early, as protracted monetary easing would hurt the domestic financial system, Reuters reported, citing board member Goushi Kataoka's interview with the Sankei newspaper.

Kataoka, the only dissenter to the central bank's decision to maintain its short-term policy interest rate in October, said it was too early to debate winding down the stimulus program, contrary to several other board members' intention that the next policy move would entail scaling back stimulus, according to the report.

"Our near-term challenge is to think about how we can achieve our 2% inflation target, and whether current steps are enough," Kataoka reportedly said.

He warned that waiting on achieving the inflation target for too long could leave the BOJ without adequate room to take policy action to handle the next crisis.

Meanwhile, Kataoka reiterated his call to push down 15-year bond yields, which he said would help boost the economy and inflation expectations, more so than cutting short-term interest rates. Without such steps, he said Japan may not be able to hit its 2% inflation target around fiscal 2019, as currently projected by the central bank, according to the report.