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Shirakawa made the remark to the day's meeting of a public-private national strategy meeting, according to Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa. Furukawa also quoted Shirakawa as saying that the central bank is taking bold steps and that fiscal reform is needed in order to achieve sustained economic growth. The BoJ eased monetary policy on Thursday by boosting purchases of government bonds and warned of risks posed by a strong yen and Europe's debt crisis in a sign it would act again if recovery in the world's third-largest economy falters.