Takaichi to appoint Japans first female finance minister

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Japans minister in charge of local economic revitalisation Satsuki Katayama attends a news conference at Prime Minister Shinzo Abes official residence in Tokyo, Japan October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO - Japans likely next prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, plans to appoint former minister Satsuki Katayama as the first female finance minister, broadcaster FNN said, underscoring the symbolic shattering of the glass ceiling as Takaichi is set to be voted in as the countrys inaugural female premier later on Tuesday.

Takaichi, a hardline conservative and an acolyte of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is now almost certain to become prime minister at a parliamentary vote on Tuesday after her Liberal Democratic Party on Monday agreed to a coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin.

Takaichis victory will make her the first female prime minister in a country where the top echelons of politics and business are still overwhelmingly male-dominated. Her election will also likely mark a harder tack to the right in a country increasingly worried about rising prices, lacklustre growth and immigration.

Takaichi plans to appoint Katayama, a former finance ministry official-turned-lawmaker, as finance minister, broadcaster FNN reported. Katayama would become Japans first female finance minister. She chairs the ruling Liberal Democratic Partys research commission on the finance and banking systems.

She has a strong background in economic and finance fields, having served as minister in charge of Local Economic Revitalisation under Abe.

Lawmakers will vote later in parliament to elect the new prime minister. With a combined