Japan's prime minister is likely to nominate an advocate of aggressive monetary policy easing - Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda - as the next central bank governor to step up his fight to finally rid the country of deflation, according to Reuters. Shinzo Abe won a big election victory in December promising to revive the fortunes of an economy stuck in the doldrums for most of the past two decades. He has repeatedly called for a more aggressive central bank willing to take radical steps. The yen fell on the nomination news to a 33-month low and yields on five-year government bonds hit a record low as markets moved to factor in bolder monetary policy. Sources said the government is likely to nominate Kuroda and two deputies this week for parliamentary approval. It is also lining up Kikuo Iwata, an academic who advocates unorthodox monetary easing steps, and BOJ Executive Director Hiroshi Nakaso, who now oversees the central bank's international operations, as deputy governors, a source familiar with the process said. Iwata told reporters he had been offered the job and he would accept it. But Kuroda has long criticised the BOJ as too slow to expand stimulus, so he is expected to push for more radical efforts to achieve a 2 percent inflation target set in January. -- SPA
