Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda has emerged as a strong contender to be nominated by the government as the successor to Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, sources said Saturday.

Kuroda, 68, served as vice finance minister for international affairs and foreign exchange policy between 1999 and 2003, before assuming his current post at the ADB in 2005.

He is a known advocate of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive monetary easing to overcome chronic deflation.