Economic news

As pain from weak yen deepens, Japan’s ex-currency chief Kanda warns of action

2024.11.13 06:43

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Makiko Yamazaki

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan will act appropriately against excess movements on the foreign exchange market, former currency chief Masato Kanda told Reuters, issuing a warning as the country continues to feel pain from a weaker yen.

Kanda, now a special adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the finance ministry, said in an interview that currency market volatility had increased reflecting recent changes in monetary policies and political situations in major countries.

“There is no change to our stance that we will need to respond appropriately to excess movements on the currency market as excessive foreign exchange volatility is undesirable,” he said.

Kanda’s warning came as the Japanese currency weakened to a three-month low of near 155 to the dollar, edging closer to the 160 threshold that traders see as the authorities’ line in the sand.

During his three-year tenure as vice finance minister for international affairs, Kanda carried out the first yen-buying intervention for 24 years in 2022 and led the biggest yen-buying intervention on record this year.

He stepped down at the end of July this year and is poised to become the next head of the Asian Development Bank.

Japan’s trade no longer generates a surplus due to a surge in the cost of energy imports and an increase in offshore production, reducing the weak yen’s positive impact on exports.

“We are observing a situation again where a weaker yen pushes up import costs and inflict pain on ordinary people’s lives,” said Kanda.

Meanwhile, he said, the falling yen no longer prompts export-oriented companies to boost exports as they don’t seek to increase market share with price reductions and instead shift production abroad.

“All in all, there are more people who say the weak yen is more painful,” he said.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Japan's vice minister of finance for international affairs, Masato Kanda, poses for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo, Japan January 31, 2022. Picture taken January 31, 2022.  REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

Kanda said that, while short-term movements are vastly driven by speculation, the only solution to stem the yen’s weakness in longer term is to strengthen the economy through structural reforms.

“The weak yen essentially means an outflow of wealth such as it increases expenditure for energy imports,” he said.



Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,117.29 0.11%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,360.37 1.84%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.07%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 252.29 2.08%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 662.50 0.31%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.41 3.55%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.424637 3.39%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.07%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.01 5.36%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,359.28 1.94%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.209083 2.51%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 41.64 1.97%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.527019 5.00%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.14 5.46%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 3.78%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,987.42 1.47%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,719.18 0.08%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.68 11.43%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 18.06 0.61%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 512.01 1.12%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,357.33 1.93%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.37 2.96%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 7.08 9.24%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 3.44%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.57 0.37%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 96.63 4.32%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.41 4.78%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.87 0.77%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,531.67 1.93%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.142763 6.48%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.45 2.47%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.30%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.188201 6.42%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.562688 5.21%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.50 5.10%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 8.02 1.79%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.54 4.36%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 535.04 0.26%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.06%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.151158 3.52%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000048 0.04%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.36 1.64%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.043336 0.39%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.852766 3.95%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.11%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.64 0.52%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.51 3.68%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.78 9.34%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.62 1.99%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 2.18 3.55%