"The second half of next year is [the] possible timing for when the Bank of Japan will end its negative interest rate policy," said former Bank of Japan board member Takahide

Kiuchi (pictured here in 2017). Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Japan's central bank could delay any changes to its monetary policy in light of the turmoil that the Silicon Valley

Bank crisis has triggered in financial markets, a former board member told CNBC. And any changes to its ultra-dovish stance could be delayed by as much as a year, said Nomura Research

Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi, who served on the Bank of Japan's policy board from 2012 to 2017. Kiuchi previously expected that incoming governor Kazuo Ueda would accelerate the

conditions if the current instability of the financial markets continue," Kiuchi said in an interview with CNBC. "The second half of next year is [the] possible timing for when the

Bank of Japan will end its negative interest rate policy," he said. STOCK PICKS AND INVESTING TRENDS FROM CNBC PRO: * ‘Next dragon’: Fund manager names an under-the-radar, ‘very cheap’

market to play right now * Morgan Stanley's Slimmon says the U.S. infrastructure sector is 'very powerful,' names stock pick Bank of Japan's outgoing governor Haruhiko

Kuroda, in his final meeting earlier this month, maintained its interest rates at -0.1% and stood by the central bank's inflation target of 2% and its plan to keep the yield on its

government bonds at around 0%. THE FED FACTOR Kiuchi stressed that the next steps from the Fed would remain an "important factor" for the Bank of Japan's path forward.

"If the U.S. economy slows significantly, which causes a rate cut by the Federal Reserve's board, maybe the BOJ's normalization has to be postponed significantly," Kiuchi

said. Kiuchi still expects to see the Bank of Japan widening its tolerance range for its yield curve within this year — he expects the range to be widened from 50 basis points to 75 or 100

basis points as early as June. "Now that the JGB is low … if these conditions continue, I think the BOJ may expand the upper limit," he said. The yield on 10-year Japanese

government bonds plunged on Thursday from trading above 0.5%, the upper ceiling of its tolerance range, to mark 0.283% on Wednesday. MORE FLEXIBILITY? Kiuchi said public sentiment is also an

important indicator for the Bank of Japan — adding that the central bank would eventually aim for "flexibility" in its monetary policy. "I think that the inflexibility caused

a sharp yen depreciation last year, which was very unpopular to the public," he said. "That's the reason why [Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's] government wants more

flexibility under the new [BOJ] governor," he said. The Japanese yen weakened past 150 against the U.S. dollar last October with widening rate differentials between the U.S. Federal

Reserve's hawkish stance and the Bank of Japan maintaining negative interest rates. The central bank's board voiced dissenting opinions over the current policy, minutes from its

January policy meeting showed. One member "expressed the recognition that it was appropriate to continue with monetary easing at this point, although it was necessary to examine and

assess the balance between positive effects and side effects at some point in future," minutes showed. Another member, however, said "it was inappropriate to rush to an exit from

the current monetary policy because overseas economies were currently heading toward slowdowns."