Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Thursday it would take more time for the central bank to start tightening its ultraeasy monetary policy, despite recent brisk economic growth.
"There would be a substantial length of time" before the bank decides to change its monetary policy, Fukui said.
Consumer prices -- one of the BOJ's key gauges in mapping out its monetary policy -- have not shown a prominent change in Japan or elsewhere, he said.
The BOJ has pledged to continue its current policy to flood the banking system with cash until core consumer prices rise steadily.
"The effects of monetary easing will become stronger as the economy continues to recover," Fukui told a quarterly meeting of BOJ branch managers earlier in the day.
At the BOJ meeting, Eiji Muto, chief of the Osaka branch, said personal consumption is slowly rebounding in his prefecture as well as Nara and Wakayama prefectures due to the summer heat wave, which prompted sales of air conditioners and other summer goods.
Yasuo Nakayama of the Nagoya branch said automakers and related firms in Aichi, Shizuoka, Gifu and Mie prefectures are turning to active capital spending while their exports are expanding.
The BOJ meeting was attended by 32 domestic and two foreign branch chiefs.