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Reappointing Toshihiko Fukui as Bank of Japan Governor: The last option?

March 14, 2008
By Ken Worsley


This morning, the Nikkei published an opinion piece entitled “Reappointing Fukui As BOJ Governor Emerges As Option”, which included this passage:

No recent BOJ governor has served a second term. As the nearly two decades of Alan Greenspan’s Federal Reserve chairmanship impressively demonstrated, however, there is nothing wrong with having a long-serving central banker as long as the person has the “right stuff.”

If the government cannot quickly find a good alternative to Muto, who is unlikely to be approved by the opposition camp, it should consider keeping Fukui on for another five years.

Interestingly, the Nikkei’s title includes the phrase, “Emerges as Option,” although no source for this option is cited in the article. Is the Nikkei floating this idea on its own, or is this the brainchild of someone in touch with a Nikkei Press Club member?

A bit more has been written on this issue, and other happenings in the Diet, over at Observing Japan.

Filed Under Bank of Japan, Monetary Policy, Politics 

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Comments

2 Responses to “Reappointing Toshihiko Fukui as Bank of Japan Governor: The last option?”

  1. WG on March 14th, 2008 8:29 pm

    Wait a minute…this is actually a good idea. The DPJ can’t possibly reject him. Is he even interested?

  2. Ken Worsley on March 15th, 2008 12:21 am

    I doubt he is. Better paying stuff with more freedom awaits - and let’s face it, the affair over the Murakami Fund has taught some lessons, silent as they may have been kept from the voting public.

    I think Mr Fukui is a very intelligent man - perhaps the most intelligent to have held his post (despite my disagreements with his monetary policy), and he probably realizes that there are better things for him to be doing now. His current position is very constraining, and I don’t see him willing to accept five more years of it.

    Would he take a backroom deal for one more year with something guaranteed in return for someone else being able to step in when he has to step down for “health reasons”? Sure, I’d buy that.

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