New BOJ chief pledges 'all-out efforts' on deflation
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The Bank of Japan's new governor Haruhiko Kuroda (above) answers questions during a press conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday, March 21, 2013. Mr Kuroda on Thursday pledged "all-out efforts" to rid Japan of growth-sapping deflation as gloomy new trade data underlined the scale of the task ahead. -- PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO (AFP) - The Bank of Japan's new governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Thursday pledged "all-out efforts" to rid Japan of growth-sapping deflation as gloomy new trade data underlined the scale of the task ahead.
Kuroda, a finance veteran who supports aggressive monetary easing, told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he would do his best to revive the world's third-largest economy.
"I said that I will make all-out efforts... to pull Japan's economy out of deflation," Kuroda said after a morning meeting with the premier.
The 68-year-old former Asian Development Bank president conceded there would be "difficulty ahead" in rebooting Japan's economy and reversing years of falling prices that have crimped private spending and corporate investment.
