* Japan govt official: BOJ's corporate measures up to BOJ
* Undesirable for govt to ask for delay in BOJ decisions
* Must avoid economy hitting second bottom
* Govt to take action on economy if necessary (Adds Furukawa comments)
By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - A government representative at Bank of Japan board meetings said Tokyo understands that the central bank's corporate funding measures are abnormal, suggesting it may not oppose the BOJ withdrawing the support eventually.
Keisuke Tsumura, economy secretary at the Cabinet Office, also said it is basically undesirable for the government to exercise its right to ask the Bank of Japan, which holds a policy board meeting on Friday, to delay its decisions.
"The government understands that corporate support measures are very abnormal steps. We've also been hearing that such needs have declined lately," Tsumura said in an interview with Reuters.
The Bank of Japan is leaning towards scrapping its corporate finance support programmes, such as purchasing corporate debt, in December, sources with knowledge of the bank's thinking have said.
Some cabinet ministers have put pressure on the BOJ to continue the measures.
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii has said the BOJ's assessment of the economy may be too rosy, while banking minister Shizuka Kamei has said openly that the BOJ should not end the measures.
Senior vice minister for the economy Motohisa Furukawa kept that pressure up on Wednesday, saying the government wanted the central bank to support the economy via monetary policy.
"We would like the BOJ to act appropriately in order to avoid any clogging in corporate finance," Furukawa told a news conference.
But Tsumura, a Democratic Party lawmaker who attends BOJ policy board meetings as one of two government representatives, said: "What they do on the corporate steps is 100 percent under their jurisdiction. I would not comment on their measures."
The other representative is sent by the Ministry of Finance.
The government representatives do not take part in policy decisions but can make comments and ask for delays by the BOJ in implementing changes in policy, although the bank has the right to reject such requests.
The Democratic Party, which took office last month, has said it will respect the independence of the central bank.
"I would not say the government will give up our rights stipulated in the law. But basically it is not desirable for the government to ask for postponement of the bank's decisions, for the benefit of the relationship between the government and the BOJ," he said.
POLICY MEETING ON FRIDAY
The bank's decision could come as early as Friday, when it will hold a one-day policy meeting.
Tsumura, who assists National Strategy and Economy Minister Naoto Kan, also said the recovery in Japan's economy has remained very modest and another stimulus package after one adopted earlier this year cannot be ruled out.
"The government stance is to take decisive actions on the economy if that is necessary. It is possible that there will be discussion on a second supplementary budget depending on economic conditions around the end of the year. We must not let the economy hit a second bottom," Tsumura said.
A Reuters poll showed earlier in the week that economists think Japan's economy may post no growth in the first three months of 2010 due to cuts in public spending and weak private consumption.
The Democratic Party-led government has suspended about 3 trillion yen ($32.84 billion) of a 14 trillion yen economic stimulus package compiled by the previous administration under the Liberal Democratic Party, saying it is strewn with wasteful spending.
But Tsumura said the spending cuts would have only a limited negative impact on the economy, as many of the cuts were in spending planned for coming years and also the stimulus package would still be huge even after the cuts.
"Even if we cut the stimulus package by about 20 percent, a large amount of spending is still in place to support the economy. The argument that our spending cuts are hurting the economy comes from those who want to criticise the new government," he said. ($1=91.34 Yen) (Additional reporting by Sumio Ito and Yuko Yoshikawa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)