"He's the right person to enhance the role of communication strategy at the Bank of Japan"
- Masaaki Kanno, chief Japan economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Haruhiko Kuroda, who ran the nation's currency policy and then built an international reputation, leading the Asian Development Bank, is likely to become the next Governor of the Bank of Japan. As the soon-leaving current BoJ Governor Masaaki Shirkawa introduced an asset-purchase fund worth 76 trillion yen ($808 billion) and failed to end decades of deflation and boost growth in the world's third largest economy, the Bank of Japan is expected to pack a bigger punch under Haruhiko Kuroda. Kuroda also called for an inflation target a decade before the BoJ adopted one last month, and for years has spoken in favour of quantitative easing. Moreover, he claimed his readiness to achieve the 2% inflation target in two years, boosting confidence among investors.
"He's the right person to enhance the role of communication strategy at the Bank of Japan," said Masaaki Kanno, chief Japan economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo and a former head foreign-exchange dealer at the BOJ. "He has already said in press interviews that the 2 percent inflation target should be achieved in two years -- this is a very important message to the market."
"Personally, I am in favor of Kuroda," Hirofumi Ryu, deputy director general of the Democratic Party of Japan, said in an interview.
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