The Central Bank of Japan has a new elected chief, Masaaki Shirakawa who was already in the position of acting governor.

Ever since the five-year term of former Bank of Japan chief Toshihiko Fukui expired on March 19, there have been numerous discussions concerning the naming of the bank’s new governor, the whole matter being transformed into a political issue.

Nominations for the bank’s lead needed approval from both houses of the parliament and the reason why the former vice finance minister for international affairs, Hiroshi Watanabe, was rejected was because he did not receive acceptance in the upper house.

According to Reuters, Shirakawa was quoted saying, "There are always uncertainties in the economy. Uncertainty is especially high at this time. In such circumstances, it is not appropriate to have preconceptions on the direction of policy for the future," showing the direction to be followed in all future projects.

Also, concerning the pressing matter of their current state, he said that even though the Japanese economy has been a bit fragile over the past few months, the cycle of production, incomes and spending is still on a positive cycle without any need for alarming thoughts and also that “We will manage policy in accordance with a thorough review of the probabilities of the outlook for the economy and prices, as well as both upside and downside risks," as quoted by Reuters.

He also announced that the policy concerning the bank's independence and transparency will be fully endorsed and he will try at the best of his abilities to fulfill the new set of tasks.