kuroda spoke at a meeting with boj branch managers on monday. he said he expects inflation to stay at roughly 0% for the time being. once the impact of last year's consumption tax hike is excluded. kuroda said low energy costs are putting downward pressure on overall prices. some boj board members expressed concern last month that consumer prices might fall slightly. kuroda said the boj will examine the risk factors that could cause economic activity and prices to fluctuate. he again insisted that the central bank is ready to carry out additional easing measures to end deflation. >>> new figures on producer prices suggest how difficult it is to stem deflation when the effects of last year's consumption tax hike are removed from the calculations. prices of goods traded among companies fell in march for a fifth consecutive month. the adjusted producer price index number shows a 2.1% drop compared to a year earlier. still, the boj officials say the pace of decline is slowing as the crude oil market shows signs of stabilizing. when the tax hike is i