Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that the time is not yet ripe for the Bank of Japan to lift its super-easy monetary policy.
"It's too early to do that," he told reporters when asked about the timing for the central bank to end the unorthodox policy known as quantitative easing.
At the same time, Koizumi also showed understanding toward the central bank's plan to terminate the quantitative monetary easing policy once consumer prices post a sustainable increase from the levels in the previous year.