BOJ's Kuroda: Oil price falls to help hit price goal in long run

"There's no change to our goal of hitting 2 percent inflation at the earliest date possible, with a time frame of around two years," Kuroda told parliament.

Kuroda made the remarks to an opposition lawmaker, who urged him to admit the BOJ has failed to meet its pledge of achieving its 2 percent inflation target within two years as slumping oil prices push price growth further away from the target.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher)