NIIGATA: The Bank of Japan’s new governor Kazuo Ueda made a “very wise” decision to launch a review of the central bank’s past monetary policy moves, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told an interview with public broadcaster NHK on Thursday. “I have met him on several occasions now and he comes across as a very calm, solid, determined gentleman.

He’s a good communicator,“ Lagarde said in the interview during her visit to the Japanese city of Niigata to attend the G7 finance leaders’ gathering. “Mr. Ueda has been very wise to decide a strategy review under his new leadership to really understand the strength, the weaknesses, identify the best direction to take in order to maintain price stability,” she said.

A soft-spoken academic with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ueda succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda as head of the BOJ last month, and since then has visited the United States and South Korea to attend international meetings.

He is now in Niigata to chair the Group of Seven (G7) finance leaders’ meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki.

Stubbornly high inflation and the outlook for monetary policy are among key topics of debate at the three-day gathering that ends on Saturday.

With inflation exceeding the BOJ’s 2% target but due mostly to rising import costs rather than strong wage gains, Ueda has stressed the need to keep monetary policy ultra-loose - but also be mindful of the rising cost of prolonged easing such as the strain on financial institutions’ profits.

At his debut policy meeting in April, Ueda announced a plan to conduct a review of its past monetary policy moves, laying the groundwork for gradually phasing out his predecessor’s massive stimulus programme.