The size and type of assets the Bank of Japan now buys is not enough to achieve its 2 percent inflation target, Haruhiko Kuroda, the government's nominee for next BOJ governor, said on Monday.

"The BOJ must clearly send out the message, through communication with markets, that it will do whatever it can to beat deflation," Kuroda said in a confirmation hearing at the lower house of parliament.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week nominated Kuroda, who is currently president of the Asian Development Bank, to be the new governor of Japan's central bank in a push for more aggressive monetary easing to meet a 2 percent inflation target and end nearly two decades of deflation.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Shinichi Saoshiro)