TOKYO : Japan's opposition leader on Sunday hinted his party may accept the deputy head of the Bank of Japan to take over the top spot, which has been vacant for more than two weeks after a political dispute.

The government, which saw its choice to lead the central bank shot down by the opposition, is now scrambling to fill the job in time for Friday's meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of Seven (G7) major economies.

Local media have reported that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plans to endorse current BoJ deputy Masaaki Shirakawa for the job - and the main opposition Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa suggested that was an acceptable choice.

"We don't see an obstacle," Ozawa said on Fuji TV. But he suggested that the possible nominee to be the next deputy, Hiroshi Watanabe, would not be approved by his party.

The government reportedly plans to submit the new nominees on Monday for a vote in parliament on Wednesday.

The opposition has already rejected two nominees, arguing that they were too entrenched in the finance ministry to preserve the independence of the central bank, which has repeatedly come under pressure to keep interest rates low.

The vacancy at the top of the Bank of Japan has come while the world's central banks are working to contain the fallout of the global credit crunch and the worsening world economy.

"We have argued consistently that we cannot agree with the customary practice of giving a BoJ post to a former finance ministry bureaucrat," Ozawa told public broadcaster NHK. - AFP/de