Japan Lower House OKs 2 Reflationists as BOJ Policymakers

Tokyo, March 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Representatives on Thursday approved two academics regarded as reflationists as new members of the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board. At the day’s plenary meeting, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, confirmed the government’s nominations of 22 people at 11 institutions, including Chuo University professor Toichiro Asada and Aoyama Gakuin University professor Ayano Sato for the nine-member policymaking board of the central bank. The House of Councillors, the upper chamber, is also expected to confirm the batch of nominations at a meeting Monday, completing the parliament’s approval procedures for the 22 individuals. Asada and Sato, who are set to succeed two retiring Policy Board members, are considered to be in favor of reflationist policies, namely monetary easing and active public spending. Their nominations gave rise to a view that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who promotes her “responsible and proactive” fiscal policy, moved to warn against the BOJ’s stance of continuing to raise interest rates. Among other nominees approved by the Lower House on Thursday was Hiroko Kondo, former chief of Sapporo High Court, as head of a cyber communication and information oversight committee to be established in April. The committee will supervise the government’s active cyber defense system, which is aimed at preventing cyberattacks through the surveillance of communication records. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]