Board reshuffle in July may open scope for less dovish Bank of Japan

An expected reshuffle of the Bank of Japan's board will give Prime Minister Fumio Kishida a chance to replace a reflationist member with a less-dovish policymaker in July, a move that could nudge the central bank away from its radical easy policy.
 

Any such change won't lead to an immediate policy tightening and would mark only a subtle shift in the nine-member board, which has consistently voted to keep policy ultra-loose to fire up inflation to the bank's elusive 2% target.
 

But the departure of Goushi Kataoka, seen as the most dovish member of the board, comes at a time