The Bank of Japan will need to flexibly consider a new easing approach if current steps are deemed insufficient to beat deflation, a top economist newly appointed to the central bank's policy board said on Tuesday. Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist at Nomura Securities and one of two new board members whose appointments were formally approved earlier in the day, said uncertainty remains high on when the BOJ can achieve its inflation target of 1 percent, given current sluggish price moves. The other new board member, Takehiro Sato, chief economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, said in a joint news conference it ... (full story)