By Leika Kihara
NAHA Japan (Reuters) - Bank of Japan board member Sayuri Shirai said that aggressive monetary stimulus will remain in place well into next year as it would take longer than the central bank's two-year timeframe to achieve its price target.
Shirai, among the most dovish policymaker in the nine-member board, also cautioned that some risks clouded the economic outlook, including soft exports and a potentially bigger-than-expected slowdown in consumer spending.
"My economic and price forecasts are made on the assumption that quantitative and qualitative monetary easing (QQE) will continue during and beyond 2015 under the current framework," Shirai told business leaders in Naha, on the southernmost Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, on Thursday.
"Under the BOJ's so-called flexible inflation targeting framework, I maintain the view that it will likely take longer than 'two years' to achieve 2 percent inflation in a way that doesn't impose excessive burdens on firms and households."
The comments contrast with BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's upbeat views on the economy and underscore skepticism within the board on how long it will take for the price target to be achieved.
Under the stimulus launched in April last year, the BOJ pledged to double base money via aggressive asset purchases to accelerate inflation to 2 percent in roughly two years.
Kuroda has repeatedly voiced confidence that Japan can achieve the price target within two years, but has also stressed that QQE is an "open-ended" programme that will be maintained until the inflation goal is achieved in a stable manner.
Some in the board, however, feel the such an extraordinary stimulus programme shouldn't be maintained for too long as doing so will make an exit from the policy difficult.
Shirai said there was a risk household spending may lose momentum if wages don't increase enough to make up for the rising cost of living from inflation, and a two-stage increase in the sales tax hike.
The first tax hike -- from 5 percent to 8 percent -- was put in place in April with the second one due in October 2015, provided the government feels the economic situation would be stable enough to proceed with the plan.
Shirai said the BOJ must scrutinise how the second sales tax hike will affect the economy in judging whether the BOJ's price target is achieved, suggesting that QQE should be maintained at least until late next year.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim & Shri Navaratnam)