World News Koizumi names Fukui as BOJ chief

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Ministers expressed hopes Feb. 25 that the next Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor Toshihiko Fukui will forge closer ties with the government and implement more aggressive monetary policy to aid the shaky economy.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi nominated the conservative former deputy BOJ governor Feb. 24 to replace Masaru Hayami, who is due to step down March 19.

"I think the nomination of Fukui as new central bank governor will help the government to strengthen cooperation with the BOJ," Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said. "Until now there has been a curtain drawn between the two sides."

Financial Services and Economy Minister Heizo Takenaka said he hoped the BOJ would continue to work with the government to fight deflation.

Analysts, who had described the nomination as a pivotal moment in Koizumi's struggle to boost the economy, were left slightly disappointed at the safe choice of the 67-year-old orthodox central bank bureaucrat.

But they said the selection of the BOJ's deputy governors - Toshiro Muto, a former top bureaucrat at the finance ministry and university academic, and bureaucrat Kazumasa Iwata, who are seen as holding less traditional views - meant the overall result was difficult to read.

日銀総裁に福井氏内定

次期日銀総裁に24日、富士通総研理事長の福井俊彦氏が内定した。

Shukan ST: March 7, 2003

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