Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday he would nominate a new Bank of Japan governor next month, as markets test whether the central bank will change the ultralow-rate policy of the dovish Haruhiko Kuroda.
Kishida initially told a TV Tokyo program that he would decide on Kuroda's replacement by considering the economic situation for April, but when pressed he acknowledged this would likely be in February, "considering parliament's schedule."
He did not elaborate.