TOKYO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - It is important for the Bank of Japan to commit to unlimited asset purchases to achieve 2 percent inflation, Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank, said on Friday.

Kuroda, a potential candidate to replace BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa whose term expires in April, also said at a seminar in Tokyo that the yen is still overvalued and further declines would not be out of place.

Flexible inflation targeting could include steps to prevent prices and the jobless rate from deviating too far from a certain level, former deputy BOJ governor Kazumasa Iwata said at the same seminar.

Iwata, another potential candidate as the next BOJ governor, also said Japan's jobless rate, which currently stands at 4.1 percent, may have to fall to 3.5 percent for wages to rise.

(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Shinichi Saoshiro) Keywords: JAPAN ECONOMY/KURODA

(stanley.white@thomsonreuters.com)(+81 3 6441 1984)(Reuters Messaging: stanley.white.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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