MNI BRIEF: Japan's Lower House Approves Ueda As BOJ Governor

Japan’s Lower House of the Diet, which is controlled by the ruling coalition, approved economist and former Bank of Japan board member Kazuo Ueda as the BOJ’s next governor to replace Haruhiko Kuroda, whose term ends on April 8.

The approval on Thursday came after Ueda said in confirmation hearings that the BOJ’s current easy policy is appropriate and should be maintained, indicating he will not reverse policy. However, he also indicated he intends to mitigate the side effects of yield curve control policy, but without elaborating on how that would be achieved.

The Lower House also approved BOJ executive director Shinichi Uchida and former chief of the Financial Services Agency Ryozo Himino to become deputy governors. They will take office on March 20. A vote in the Upper House of the Diet will be on Friday.

Japan's government officially nominated Ueda on February 14. The terms of BOJ Deputy Governors Masayoshi Amamiya and Masazumi Wakatabe end on March 19.