Photo/Illutration Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gives a speech to his faction in the Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo on May 17. (Nobuo Fujiwara)

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid out his vision for the next governor of the Bank of Japan, in comments interpreted as a push to extend policies he introduced when he was prime minister.

“The next governor (of Bank of Japan) should, again, be someone who is able to do sound macroeconomic analysis,” Abe said at a meeting on June 15.

Observers said the comment suggests that he is seeking a continuation of the monetary easing policies that Japan has maintained since he introduced his flagship economic policy program, called Abenomics, in 2013.

Abe made the comment at a meeting of a group of lawmakers that discusses promoting expansionary fiscal policies, made up of younger members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from the Upper and Lower houses.

The current BOJ governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, will reach the end of his term in April 2023. Kuroda became governor during the second Abe administration in 2013.

The changing of the guard could usher in a new strategy on monetary policy. But Abe stressed at the meeting, “It is very important that the Bank of Japan gets monetary policy right.”

Abe has made waves with controversial comments that suggested the Bank of Japan is not an arms-length entity. He said that it is “the government’s subsidiary,” and that “there is no problem in refinancing (government bonds) as many times as you like.”

Prime Minister Fumiko Kishida and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki were then both forced to reassure markets by walking back Abe’s remarks.

Suzuki said that the BOJ does not meet the legal definition of a government subsidiary because even though the government owns 55 percent of the central bank, it has no voting rights on how it operates.

Related News