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Japan's parliament approves Kuroda as BoJ chief

TOKYO (AFP)

Japan's parliament on Friday confirmed the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda as Bank of Japan governor, with the new central bank chief expected to launch aggressive easing to stoke the economy.

The upper house also gave the green light to Kikuo Iwata and Hiroshi Nakaso as Kuroda's deputies, with all three easily clearing the hurdle.

Japan's leading opposition party had warned it would vote against Iwata -- a strong supporter of monetary easing and of giving Tokyo more control of the independent BoJ -- but his nomination passed by a count of 124 votes in favour with 96 votes against.

Japan's parliament on Friday confirmed the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda (pictured on February 8, 2013) as Bank of Japan governor, with the new central bank chief expected to launch aggressive easing to stoke the economy.

The BoJ's new management team, which was approved by the lower house on Thursday, is expected to take up their positions next week.

Kuroda and his deputies are widely expected to usher in a new era for the BoJ as Tokyo demands more action to boost the world's third-biggest economy.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated the 68-year-old Kuroda, a finance veteran likely to back the premier's prescription of big spending and aggressive monetary easing to drag Japan out of years of deflation which has crimped private spending and corporate investment.

During parliamentary confirmation hearings, Kuroda vowed that he would do "everything possible" to reverse years of falling prices, while criticising previous BoJ administrations for failing to fix the problem.

Kuroda has announced his resignation as head of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank.

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