Oct 31 (Japan Times) - Haruhiko Kuroda should be reappointed to continue as governor after his current term expires in April, and comfortingly, as of last week, he easily leads the field of contenders. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's big election win must also be in Kuroda's favor. All to the good.
However, even if he is replaced, his reign will continue.
That's because Kuroda, to his credit, is presiding over a steady economic expansion and has put in place policies that ought to outlast his tenure. (Sound familiar to any Fed watchers?)
Inflation is much too low. That's not Kuroda's fault; it's the same in most major economies. In fact it's worth celebrating that Japan's no longer seeing deflation. And as my Bloomberg View colleague Noah Smith noted last week, the notion that Abenomics has failed is wide of the mark. Japan is going through a pretty sunny patch right now. A stronger global growth scene surely contributes.
