Diet To Confirm Govt's BOJ Picks Friday

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The upper house is set to greenlight three government nominees for the Bank of Japan's leadership team during a plenary session Friday.

With the nominees having already cleared the lower chamber of the Diet, upper house approval will finalize their appointments.

Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda is expected to take the helm of the central bank as governor, while Gakushuin University economics professor Kikuo Iwata and BOJ Executive Director Hiroshi Nakaso will serve as deputy governors.

All three are likely to win confirmation despite the opposition's upper house majority, thanks to support from some opposition parties.

The central bank will start afresh under its new leadership next Wednesday, the day after outgoing Governor Masaaki Shirakawa resigns. Kuroda will fill out the remainder of Shirakawa's term, which ends April 8, and will thus need to be reconfirmed later.

Banri Kaieda, president of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said in a news conference Thursday that the DPJ has yet to decide whether Kuroda should get a full term as governor.

(The Nikkei, March 15 morning edition)

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