By Takaya Yamaguchi and Takashi Umekawa
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government will submit nominees for the central bank’s governor and deputy governors to parliament on Friday, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The nominees need approval from both houses of parliament, which is a near certainty as the ruling coalition holds a comfortable majority.
The government will likely present a list of nominees for several high-profile public posts, including the BOJ positions, to parliament around 11 a.m. (0200GMT), the sources said on Thursday.
Government leaders reaffirmed their confidence in BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Tuesday, bolstering expectations he will be reappointed for a rare second term.
The nominees for the two deputy governor posts remain uncertain.
Some media reported that BOJ Executive Director Masayoshi Amamiya, known for masterminding various BOJ policies, will succeed incumbent Hiroshi Nakaso.
Some analysts say the other vacancy will be filled by an advocate of massive monetary and fiscal stimulus measures, such as Abe’s former aide, Etsuro Honda.
Kuroda’s current five-year term ends on April 8 and that of his deputies on March 19.
Kuroda, hand-picked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to pull Japan out of deflation, deployed a radical and massive asset-buying program in 2013 that helped boost business sentiment but has failed to fire up inflation.
His reappointment would signal that the BOJ will likely maintain that ultra-loose policy for some time, even as a growing number of major central banks begin to scale back years of crisis-mode stimulus.
(Writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Kim Coghill)
