BOJ policy thinking appropriate -BOJ nominee Ikeo

TOKYO, June 3 (Reuters) - Kazuhito Ikeo, the government's nominee to join the Bank of Japan's policy board, said on Tuesday that current central bank thinking on monetary policy was "quite appropriate" and that the Japanese economic slowdown was unavoidable.

Ikeo, a professor of economics at Keio University in Tokyo and an expert on banking, faces two houses of parliament, one dominated by friendly government faces but the other packed with an opposition that has thwarted the ruling party at every opportunity.

He was delivering a speech at a parliamentary panel before an official vote later this month on whether to accept him to the BOJ board.

The central bank dropped it bias towards monetary tightening in April, saying it was inappropriate to predetermine policy direction given high uncertainty.

Financial markets expect the BOJ to keep the overnight call rate target at 0.5 percent for a while before eventually raising it. (Reporting by Yoshiyasu Shida; Writing by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)