An official of the International Monetary Fund suggested Friday that the Bank of Japan adopt an inflation target.
"One of the key channels one needs to work on is actually expectations . . . on how (the BOJ) is going to achieve ending deflation," David Robinson, senior adviser to the IMF's research department, said at a Tokyo news conference. "Perhaps some sort of broad inflation target would be helpful.
"We continue to believe that more aggressive measures are needed to end deflation," Robinson said, calling on the central bank to pump more money into the economy.
"Given the increasingly entrenched nature of deflation, we believe that a much faster expansion is likely to be necessary," he said.
The IMF is currently conducting a Financial Sector Assessment Program for Japan, including an analysis of the health of the nation's financial system.