by Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday he would appoint a new governor to head the Bank of Japan (BoJ) next month, as financial markets speculate for weeks over an adjustment the ultra-accommodative monetary policy pursued by the current central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda.
Speaking on a TV show in Tokyo, Fumio Kishida first said he would decide on Haruhiko Kuroda’s replacement by reviewing the economic situation for April before retracting and saying it would probably be in February “counting given Parliament’s timetable”. He did not give further details.
Haruhiko Kuroda, whose five-year mandate ends on April 8, has chosen, unlike the other major central banks, to maintain a stimulus policy while the inflation rate in the archipelago, twice higher than the BoJ’s target, is moving to a 41-year high.
The term of Haruhiko Kuroda’s two deputies ends on March 19. All three appointments must be approved by both houses of parliament.
The BoJ left its monetary policy unchanged last Wednesday, including the 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield cap, going against financial market expectations.
The prospect of higher wages in the archipelago, raised by Haruhiko Kuroda himself, however, continues to fuel hopes for a change in monetary policy in Japan.
The BoJ could also go back on the agreement signed with the government to achieve “as soon as possible” inflation at 2%, speculate the markets.
Fumio Kishida, however, considered it premature to decide now on the need to modify this agreement.
(Report Tetsushi Kajimoto; French version Claude Chendjou)
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