KOBE Japan (Reuters) - Bank of Japan board member Takahide Kiuchi said on Thursday the central bank should consider as a future option shifting the focus of its monetary policy to zero interest rates from asset purchases when it eyes an exit from ultra-loose policy.
Unconventional monetary policy, such as asset purchases implemented under the BOJ's quantitative easing, is effective as a temporary tool to boost the economy, Kiuchi said.
On the other hand, a conventional interest rate policy can be regarded as a fine-tuning tool to guide the economy and prices to desirable levels, he said in a speech to business leaders in Kobe, western Japan.
The BOJ has stood pat since launching an intense burst of monetary stimulus in April last year, when it pledged to double base money via aggressive asset purchases to accelerate inflation to 2 percent in roughly two years.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
