The International Monetary Fund will appoint Takatoshi Kato, former vice finance minister for international affairs, as one of the deputy managing directors of the IMF, monetary sources said Wednesday.
Kato, 62, will replace Shigemitsu Sugisaki, also a former Finance Ministry official, who will retire early next year, the sources said.
Japan appears to have lobbied intensively to secure the position for another Japanese after Sugisaki, the sources said.
Kato joined the Finance Ministry in 1964 and was vice finance minister for international affairs from 1995 to 1997. He is currently an adviser at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.