In a
confirmation hearing at the lower house of parliament, Ueda said on Friday the BOJ must maintain ultra-low interest rates to support the fragile economy.
Ueda also said he saw no immediate need to revise a decade-old joint statement signed between the government and the BOJ in 2013, under which the central bank commits to achieving its 2% inflation target "at the earliest date possible."
"I'm aware of the comments Ueda made in parliament. The government, for its part, doesn't have any discomfort over them," Kishida said, when asked about Ueda's comments showing he was in no rush to revise the joint statement.
The statement was signed in 2013 under strong pressure by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the BOJ to take bolder steps to beat deflation.
The BOJ's pledge to achieve its price target "at the earliest date possible" served as the backbone of outgoing BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's radical monetary stimulus and justification for keeping Japan's interest rates ultra-low.
Critics have said the joint statement's focus on the need to beat deflation has become outdated when Japan was facing an inflation rate well exceeding the BOJ's 2% price target.
A
panel of academics and business executives last month urged the BOJ to make its 2% inflation target a long-term goal instead of one that must be met as soon as possible, so it can more flexibly tweak its yield control policy.
The re-defining of the price target must be made in new policy accord between the government and the central bank that would replace the one crafted in 2013, the panel said.
Ueda will succeed Kuroda and take the BOJ's helm on
April 9 if approved by parliament, which is essentially a done
deal due to the ruling coalition's solid majority in both houses
of parliament.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara
Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Kim Coghill)
