Government must propose a BOJ governor candidate acceptable to opposition parties: JCP Shii

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Government must propose a BOJ governor candidate acceptable to opposition parties: JCP Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on March 13 stated that in nominating a person for the Bank of Japan governor, the government should select a person who is acceptable to opposition parties.

He made the remark at a news conference in the Diet following the government’s failure to win approval of its nomination of Muto Toshiro, BOJ deputy governor, to be the next BOJ governor.

Shii said, “Judging from what he has done regarding monetary and fiscal policies, Mr. Muto is a totally inappropriate choice” because he, as the former vice finance minister, as the BOJ vice governor, has pursued adverse policies that have increased poverty and expanded economic inequality, such as keeping the interest rate near zero and restraining welfare-service related expenditures.

Referring to the ruling parties’ assertion that rejection of their proposal will lead to creating a vacuum in the BOJ and the opposition parties are to blame for it, Shii said, “The Diet, and opposition parties in particular, has the duty to express support or opposition to government nominations. If the Diet is duty-bound to only say ‘yes’, it will not be able to fulfill its responsibilities.”

Shii said that the JCP makes it a rule to support a nomination of BOJ officials unless there are clear reasons to oppose. “Since the BOJ governor’s responsibility is to steer the nation’s monetary policy, the government should nominate a candidate who can be acceptable to opposition parties. It is wrong to seek to use the force of numbers to ram through a nomination in the Diet,” he added.

The ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties in the House of Representatives Plenary Session on March 13 used their majority to nominate Muto as BOJ governor, and Shirakawa Masaaki (professor at the graduate school of Kyoto University and former BOJ executive director) and Ito Takatoshi (professor at the graduate school of the University of Tokyo and member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy) as deputy governors.

The JCP voted against all the government nominations.

The House of Councilors rejected the nomination of Muto and Ito, while Shirakawa was approved. Although the nomination was approved by the House of Representatives, it was scrapped after the House of Councilors rejection.

- Akahata, March 14, 2008