Some Bank of Japan policymakers voiced concern at a meeting last week that the coronavirus pandemic could tip the country back into deflation, a summary of opinions released Wednesday showed.
A return to deflation would be "a considerable obstacle" to eventually achieving the central bank's 2 percent price stability target, one of the nine Policy Board members said during the June 15-16 meeting.
"Thus, considering this risk, it is necessary to conduct additional easing at this point," the member said.