With Japan’s economic growth having accelerated during the last quarter and the likelihood of another recession receding, the country’s Finance Minister Naoto Kan said in a Tuesday statement that he would like to see at least 1 percent growth in the consumer price index.

The Finance Minister has also sought Bank of Japan (BOJ)’s cooperation in pounding deflation; thereby putting fresh pressure on the central bank to undertake additional action for providing support to a fragile economy.

Noting that his view on prices is almost the same as that of the BOJ, which perceives price stability as annual consumer inflation of nearly 1 percent, or below the 2-percent mark, Kan said: “I think the BOJ shares the government's view that this is a desirable policy goal.”

While Kan left it on the BOJ to decide the best possible way in which the goal can be achieved, the bank’s Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, expressing the bank’s willing to cooperate with the government, refrained from disclosing any proposed plan of action.

Meanwhile, with most economists opining that the BOJ may be compelled to add credit to the economy towards 2010-end, David Cohen, of Singapore’s Action Economics, said: “I think the government and the BOJ share the goal and there's no disagreement on a fight against deflation. But there's little the BOJ can do given its view that quantitative easing didn't achieve anything.”