Oct 11 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is not considering shortening the term of Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, he told the Financial Times on Tuesday, adding that he will continue ” working closely” with the head of the central bank.
Kishida also said that the BoJ needs to maintain its current policy until wages rise and that companies need to raise wages, according to the paper.
Kishida’s comments come at a time when the yen has sold off heavily this year due to the widening gap between US and Japanese interest rates.
Referring to Kuroda’s 10-year term, which ends in April next year, Kishida said, “At the moment, I am not thinking of shortening his term.”
“I will take into account the economic conditions forecast for April next year in my deliberations on choosing the right person for the job,” Kishida was quoted as saying by the paper.
The Bank of Japan remains an exception in a global wave of central banks tightening monetary policy to combat rising inflation, which has pushed the yen to a 24-year low against the dollar. The yen has lost about 21% against the dollar this year.
“It’s hard to determine the right level of inflation,” Kishida said. The Bank of Japan has set a 2% annual consumer inflation target for its monetary policy.
(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; edited in Spanish by Benjamรญn Mejรญas Valencia)
