BOJ members agreed emerging economies to pick up longer term - minutes

TOKYO (Reuters) - Bank of Japan policymakers agreed that emerging economies had suffered from weak growth but were likely to improve from a somewhat long-term perspective, minutes of the central bank's August policy meeting showed on Friday.

They also reaffirmed the view that what was important in conducting monetary policy was not oil price falls themselves, but how they affected the broad trend of inflation, according to the minutes.

"Some members expressed the recognition that it was necessary to closely monitor recent developments in crude oil prices, including factors behind these developments, as one of the uncertainties regarding the outlook for prices," the minutes showed.

The BOJ has kept monetary policy steady since expanding its massive stimulus programme in October last year to prevent slumping oil prices and a subsequent slowdown in inflation from delaying a sustained end to deflation.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)