Members of the Bank of Japan's policy board said there were medium- to long-term risks of swings in the economy as the effects of its policy strengthened and consumer prices recovered, minutes of the meeting at which the board scrapped its ultra-easy policy showed on Friday. The minutes of the March 8-9 meeting also showed that a representative of the Ministry of Finance told the board that if it changed policy it should support the economy by maintaining zero interest rates. Most members of the board said the central bank's condition for ending its ultra-easy policy, a sustained rise in the core consumer price index, had been fulfilled and that trend would not change even if they postponed the decision for a month or two. The nine-member board decided at the meeting to abandon the unique five-year-old policy of flooding the banking system with excess funds and reverted to a conventional policy of targeting interest rates. It left short-term rates around zero. The decision was by a 7-1 vote, with policy dove Shin Nakahara the sole dissenter, the minutes showed. Board member Toshikatsu Fukuma was absent from the meeting due to illness.