Japan nominates two to BoJ board

The government of Japan has nominated two economists, seen as likely to support further easing, in the place of two frequent dissenters.

The nominations for Hitoshi Suzuki and Goshi Kataoka were announced to the Bank of Japan’s policy board on April 18.

The appointments, if confirmed by parliament, will replace two officials who have regularly dissented to the central bank’s aggressive monetary easing.

Suzuki is the director, and a member of the audit and supervisory committee, of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Kataoka, who is generally seen to be a supporter of ‘reflationist’ policies, is an economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co.

The outgoing board members, Takahide Kiuchi and Takehiro Sato, whose five-year terms end on July 23, were the only two members to vote against the majority in the decision to expand the Japanese government bond purchases, the introduction of negative interest rates and the launch of ‘yield-curve control’.