On Sunday, when asked during a TV program if Japan should continue its ultra-easy monetary policy under the next central bank governor, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said that Japan’s economy must achieve a state where inflation rises stably and sustainably.

Kihara said, “What’s important is to create economic conditions where prices rise stably and sustainably.”

He went on, “As for the next BOJ governor, the prime minister will choose who he thinks is the most appropriate person. It’s important for monetary, and the broader macro-economic policy, to be stable.”

When asked if the government should take any additional steps to ease the economic damage from rising prices for fuel and raw materials, Kihara noted the government was prepared to “respond flexibly as needed.”

He added, “The priority now is to raise wages. Achieving wage hikes is the best growth strategy for us.”

So far the government under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration has implemented measures to help constrain utility and gasoline bills, and prodded businesses to increase wages, in response to polling showing its approval ratings being impacted by public sentiment surrounding rising food and energy costs.

The term of current Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda ends in April. Now attention has begun to turn to who Kishida will choose to succeed him, and how that will affect the timing of the central bank’s winding down of its massive stimulus, that has seen inflation rising up well above the bank’s 2% target rate.