The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting Tuesday amid growing calls by the government and the ruling coalition that it further ease credit to overcome deflation.

The BOJ Policy Board is expected to discuss whether such steps are necessary. If the central bank decides to take additional monetary easing steps, it would be the first time since February, when it decided to increase its monthly outright purchases of long-term government bonds to 1 trillion yen from 800 billion yen.

The BOJ has been under pressure to take more steps since the Nikkei average sank to a fresh 19-year low earlier this month. The government is worried that such plunges will lower the capital adequacy ratios of major banks to dangerous levels.