Word: muto
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...Shirakawa - for governor of the Bank of Japan. Shirakawa, 58, became the deputy bank governor in mid-March and then took over as interim governor after former central bank governor Toshihiko Fukui retired from his five-year term on March 19. The DPJ refused the two previous nominees - Toshiro Muto and Koji Tanami - over concerns that their ties to the Finance Ministry might compromise the bank's independence. The lack of a permanent leader in the BOJ's top desk, however, has led observers within and outside Japan to question the nation's credibility as a global financial player...
...central bank debacle is just the latest example of paralysis. After months of bickering over Fukui's successor, DPJ politicians last week rejected Fukuda's first nominee, BoJ deputy governor Toshiro Muto, and this week shot down his second choice, Koji Tanami, the governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Both Muto and Tanami are former Ministry of Finance (MOF) officials; the DPJ says it won't accept a former MOF bureaucrat as central bank chief because it wants to ensure the independence of the central bank and to insulate monetary policy from meddling by the administration...
That's because Muto must be approved by Japan's parliament-and some opposition party politicians say he's the wrong man for the job. Members of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which controls the upper house of the Diet, complain that Muto, a career bureaucrat who has spent some 35 years in the Ministry of Finance, will be too cozy with Fukuda's administration at a time when the central bank needs to exercise leadership and independence. After growing relatively briskly over the last five years, Japan's economy now appears to be slipping into a malaise...
Others see Muto as a steady, experienced hand and a pragmatic choice to replace current Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui, 72, who whose five-year term ends March 19. The University of Tokyo graduate is "an extremely competent administrator who ensures consistency," says Jesper Koll, Japan director for Singapore-based Tantallon Capital. During his five-year term as deputy governor at the Bank of Japan, Muto, 64, typically voted in line with his boss, Fukui, at policy meetings. Even though Japan faces "stagflation"-a slowing economy combined with higher inflation-Muto isn't expected to do anything radical...
...lawmaker Masaharu Nakagawa, the DPJ's finance spokesman and a member of the lower house budget committee, says his party is not about to roll over. Nakagawa says he favors a central banker who has shown leadership, not someone who consistently engages in "consensus making." Muto is scheduled to be questioned in parliament on March 11. The clock is ticking...