Following are comments from BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda at his post-meeting news conference:

BOJ STEPS

"Domestic and overseas markets remain jittery but tensions have eased somewhat."

"The BOJ will continue with measures that are exerting positive effects in the economy, such as measures to support corporate funding and stabilise markets."

ON NEW PRIME MINISTER SUGA'S ADMINISTRATION

"What's most important for us is to take measures to ease the strain from COVID-19. We want to continue with powerful monetary easing and strive to support the economy and achieve our price target."

"As stipulated in the BOJ law, the government and the BOJ must closely communicate with each other. We will continue to coordinate closely on policy management."

INFLATION TARGET

"Our foremost target is our inflation goal. But we obviously are also striving to achieve healthy economic growth, including job conditions."

"It's important to achieve gradual price rises accompanied by rising corporate profits, jobs and wages. From this standpoint, we can consider additional monetary easing steps as needed."

ON THE U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE'S POLICY REVIEW

"The BOJ has an overshoot commitment, under which it pledges to increase monetary base until inflation stably exceeds 2%. The Fed's new view is in line with ours."

ON EXCHANGE RATES

"As I have been saying all along, currency rates should move in a way that reflects economic fundamentals. There's no change to my stance of watching currency moves carefully from that perspective."

"There is absolutely no need to change our 2% inflation target ... Given the pandemic, inflation is falling quite a lot in many countries. Prices may start falling in Japan as well. But that doesn't mean Japan and western countries are discussing the need to change their inflation targets."

ON WHETHER BOJ WILL EASE IF JOB LOSSES COULD ACCELERATE PRICE FALLS

"Of course we will do so. We are watching price moves and inflation expectations carefully. We are also looking at wages and jobs as they affect inflation. Just because inflation isn't moving much, that does not mean we will not deploy additional monetary steps. We will of course consider additional easing steps if factors, such as jobs and demand, could affect price moves negatively."

ON DOWNGRADE IN BOJ'S CAPEX ASSESSMENT

"It's true capital expenditure has weakened somewhat. But compared with the big declines in GDP and corporate profits, the drop in capital spending is moderate... On the other hand, corporate spending may be affected in the long run if their profits continue to fall. For now, I don't think medium- to long-term inflation expectations have fallen sharply, or that companies are ditching future spending plans."

ON NEW PM SUGA'S CALLS TO PURSUE DEREGULATION

"When the economy suffers a big shock there's a lot of debate on which direction the society is heading. That has led to a widely accepted view that deregulation and structural reforms are necessary. I personally think there's a good chance deregulation will be accomplished."

WHEN ASKED WHETHER HE WILL FULFIL HIS REMAINING TERM GIVEN KURODA'S APPOINTEE ABE HAS STEPPED DOWN

"I have no intention of resigning before my remaining two-and-a-half-year term ends. But I shouldn't say too much about the future. I would say I am ready to fulfil my remaining term."

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)