BOJ Shirakawa: will continue close communication with government

TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Wednesday that he will continue to communicate closely with the government on policy, after a meeting of a top government panel with legal authority to map out long-term fiscal and economic policies.

"I have fully communicated with the government in the past but it's very effective to exchange views at meetings including the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy," he told reporters after attending the first meeting of the CEFP since it was revived by the newly installed Liberal Democratic Party led government.

He declined to discuss the content of the meeting.

The BOJ is under intense pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to further ease monetary policy, and will likely adopt a 2 percent inflation target at its January 21-22 rate review, double its current goal, sources familiar with the central bank's thinking told Reuters.

It will also likely issue a statement with the government pledging to pursue bold monetary easing steps, the sources said.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Simon Cameron-Moore)