Japan's finance minister Hirohisa Fujii has urged the Bank of Japan to take a hard line to tackle the lingering problem of deflation.

Hirohisa Fujii said that deflation is basically a monetary problem and cannot be tackled just by taking fiscal steps.

Speaking on the issue, Mr. Fujii added, “Deflation is a problem which should be addressed from the monetary side.”

Japan, number 2 economy of the world, has been suffering shortage of demand. This is the first deflation since 2006.

The rift between Government and bank of Japan has been widening over how to handle the economy.

The rift emerged last month when the central bank said that it would end some of its stimulus measures in December due to rising public debt.

But, government has been pressurizing Bank of Japan not to quickly roll back the stimulus measures, citing that the economy has not re-balanced.