BOJ's Shirakawa: no risk of Japan deflation spiral

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TOKYO, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Tuesday that he saw no risk of Japan slipping into a deflationary spiral.

The Bank of Japan's low interest rates and measures to support corporate financing have helped keep the output gap in the economy from widening too much, thereby easing the downward pressure on prices, Shirakawa told a news conference. (Reporting by Leika Kihara, Tetsushi Kajimoto)