New Vice Finance Minister Koichi Takemasa urged "extremely cautious consideration" of proposals for the Bank of Japan to buy foreign bonds.
The comment from Takemasa, 51, at a news conference Thursday, echoed the view of newly appointed Finance Minister Koriki Jojima. Takemasa also said the central bank should implement "bold monetary policy."
New economic and fiscal policy minister Seiji Maehara has called for the BOJ to consider buying foreign bonds as part of monetary measures to weaken the yen, end deflation and spur growth. The BOJ currently buys Japanese government bonds and other domestic securities through an asset-purchase plan that it unexpectedly expanded last month.
"We'll need to do our best to overcome the yen's appreciation and deflation early," said newly appointed Vice Finance Minister Tsutomu Okubo, 51, who was a managing director at Morgan Stanley before becoming a lawmaker in 2004.