“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s initiative to end two decades of economic stagnation took its biggest step yet as Parliament confirmed his picks for a new Bank of Japan (8301)leadership team.
Haruhiko Kuroda, who advocated an inflation target more than a decade before the central bank set one, won a majority of votes in the upper house a day after his nomination as governor was endorsed by the lower body. Abe’s picks for two deputies were also approved, with BOJ critic Kikuo Iwata prevailing after being opposed as too radical by some lawmakers.
Kuroda, the outgoing Asian Development Bank chief, has repeatedly said monetary policy alone can end the deflation that has afflicted the world’s third-largest economy for 15 years. His next task is corralling the nine-member board behind fresh stimulus, with options ranging from accelerating bond-purchase plans to setting a target for expanding the monetary base.
“The next focal point is whether Kuroda will hold an emergency meeting,” before the scheduled April 3-4 board gathering, said Shuichi Obata, senior economist at Nomura Securities Co. inTokyo. “The BOJ is likely to extend the maturity of assets it buys and expand bond purchases.”
Japan’s stocks climbed after the confirmation votes, with theNikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) closing up 1.5 percent, double the gain in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. The Nikkei closed at its highest since before the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy in 2008….”
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