THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
February 15, 2023 at 18:41 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, right, attend a meeting on the economy in October. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made clear they would vehemently fight any possible change to the course of Abenomics.
That economic package is synonymous with the ultra-loose monetary policy implemented under Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda for the past decade.
“You will end up in a political fight with our faction if you make a mistake in choosing the next BOJ governor,” an executive of the faction said in a meeting with Kishida in late November.
On Feb. 3, Hiroshige Seko, secretary-general of the LDP Upper House caucus who also belongs to the faction, said at a news conference, “Abenomics has not completed its course, so it is not a situation allowing for a change in monetary policy.”
Other younger faction members went so far as to say they would go against the party stance and vote against any nominee in the Diet who rejected Abenomics.
Kishida told close associates in early February that one important thing would be to settle on a BOJ governor nominee who would not be seen as an opponent of Abenomics.
On Feb. 10, after the Tokyo Stock Exchange had closed for trading, Kishida called an executive of the faction and said economist Kazuo Ueda would be nominated as the next governor of the central bank.
“There will be no change in monetary policy,” Kishida explained to the executive, according to sources. “This is an individual who in the past opposed lifting the zero-interest-rate policy. He should be to your liking.”
Although Kishida kept the nominee’s name a secret until the very end, he also repeatedly made clear he still considered Abenomics important.
Perhaps because of that cautious approach, there has been no outright opposition to Ueda’s nomination from the LDP.
“We have told the prime minister to not change monetary policy,” said a faction member who has served as a Cabinet minister. “The future course of such policy is clear.”
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