Japan's government is likely to name academic Yutaka Harada, a proponent of aggressive steps to end deflation, to the central bank's policy board, the Nikkei newspaper said on Wednesday.
The Waseda University economist is expected to be nominated on Wednesday to replace fellow monetary policy dove Ryuzo Miyao, whose term on the nine-member board ends on March 25, the financial daily said, without citing any sources for the information.
Harada, 64, a Tokyo University graduate, has served as chief economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research and as a senior official at the Economic Planning Agency, which was absorbed into the Cabinet Office in a government administrative overhaul.
Among his works, Harada is co-author of the book "Reflation Will Revive the Japanese Economy", with Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata and Koichi Hamada, a reflationist adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Last April, Harada praised BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda for "changing market expectations in one push" with his bold monetary easing, "bringing about a pickup in business".
Harada told the Yomiuri newspaper at the time that the BOJ "should take additional monetary supply steps quickly, if they are deemed necessary", suggesting it could increase its purchases of exchange-traded funds.
His selection to a five-year term must be approved by parliament, where Abe's coalition holds a strong majority. Harada would join the central bank amid speculation it may ease policy again as plunging oil prices make its 2 percent inflation target look difficult to achieve.
The outgoing Miyao was considered the swing vote in October's 5-4 decision to expand the BOJ's massive "quantitative and qualitative" easing policy of buying huge amounts of government bonds and other assets to end Japan's nearly two decades of deflation and anaemic growth.
That split vote has given greater significance to the board's composition, as it suggested the difficulty Kuroda might face should he want to ease further to hit his inflation target in the coming fiscal year.
The government will get a chance to shift the board's balance in June when it replaces former utility executive Yoshihisa Morimoto, who voted against the October easing.
Sources told Reuters last week that the BOJ has put policy on hold and found backing for its wait-and-see stance from Abe's advisors, who worry more easing could send the yen to damagingly low levels for resource-importing Japan.
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