Shinichi Uchida, the man behind Japan's unorthodox monetary policy

Apr 10, 2022 | News On Japan

Apr 10, 2022 (Nikkei) - As Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda heads into his last year at the helm, the spotlight has turned to Shinichi Uchida, who has been recently reappointed as executive director, the top administrative official responsible for planning monetary policy.

The executive director is a star in monetary planning, like current Deputy Gov. Masayoshi Amamiya, and set for higher positions at the bank.

As executive director, Uchida is now the top administrative official responsible for planning monetary policy. When Kuroda introduced his unconventional monetary easing in 2013, Uchida made his name as one of the key people who oversaw the practical design of the system.

With the end of Kuroda's term in sight, that system has come under question amid rising resource prices, a weakening yen and upward pressure on interest rates. Uchida is seen as a key player to design the post-Kuroda monetary policy.

As section chief in the monetary policy team and an official in the BOJ's monetary affairs department between 2004 and 2008, he faced the tricky task of ending quantitative easing and raising interest rates after a prolonged period of low- to zero rates.

At the end of former Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa's term in 2012, Uchida was promoted from Niigata branch manager to the important post of director-general of the monetary affairs department while he was still in his 40s.

Then came Kuroda's easing. Uchida continued as director-general in the monetary affairs department even as the BOJ underwent a transformation that veered completely away from its conventional policies. Together with Amamiya, then an executive director who was brought in from Osaka, and others, Uchida is said to have crafted the original proposal for "unconventional easing" in a rush job that took only about two weeks.

Uchida, like many bureaucrats, has excellent administrative skills. He has also a reputation for designing systems quickly and in detail based on the decisions of the BOJ's upper management and changing circumstances. At the time, some said he was flexible enough to pivot from the "white" system to the "black" one, a play on the names of Shirakawa and Kuroda. ...continue reading

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