Next BOJ Chief Candidate Grabs Attention of Overseas Media

New York, Feb. 10 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government's plan to nominate former Bank of Japan Policy Board member Kazuo Ueda as the next BOJ governor has grabbed the headlines of the media also outside of the Asian nation, with some outlets calling the selection a "surprise."

News broke out on Friday afternoon Tokyo time that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to appoint Ueda, who is an economist, to succeed current Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, whose term is set to end on April 8.

Many in overseas financial markets are wary over the BOJ possibly making a sudden change to its current massive monetary easing policy.

A sense of relief spread in the markets, however, after Ueda reportedly said later on Friday that the BOJ needs to maintain its accommodative monetary policy under current circumstances, market sources said.

While calling Ueda a "surprise pick" to become the next BOJ governor, Bloomberg said that he "was on the right side of history at one critical juncture in the country's economic policymaking" two decades ago when he, then a member of the BOJ Policy Board, cast a vote against lifting interest rates, while many others voted in favor for such a move.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]