Japan won’t weaken the yen to become more competitive with other countries in trade and any currency intervention would be aimed at restraining excessive moves, Japanese Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi said.
“It’s not our intention to engage in a currency-devaluation race for the sake of the national interest,” Igarashi said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. “We could conduct smoothing operations when movements are extremely volatile, that would be permissible.”
Igarashi spoke after Japan’s currency reached its highest level against the US dollar since 1995, surpassing the level at which the nation’s authorities last month intervened for the first time since 2004. Finance chiefs from the G7 major industrialized nations are poised to discuss exchange rates at a meeting in Washington today.
Currency wars between major countries could derail the global economy’s recovery, Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, told Bloomberg Television in an interview yesterday.
Japan’s currency, which has risen 12 percent this year, rose to a fresh 15-year high at ￥82.62 against the US dollar in Tokyo trading hours yesterday amid expectations of additional monetary easing by the US Federal Reserve, dealers said.
That would drive down interest rates and dampen the dollar’s appeal to investors.
Concerned about the yen and persistent deflation, Japan’s central bank returned to a virtually zero rate policy this week and announced plans to set up a ￥5 trillion (US$60.34 billion) asset-buying fund that aims to lower long-term interest rates. Japan sold more than ￥2 trillion in its intervention on Sept. 15.
The Japanese Ministry of Finance also said yesterday that Japan’s foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high last month after the central bank intervened in currency markets.
Japan’s international reserves rose for the fourth straight month to US$1.11 trillion as of Sept. 30, up US$39.45 billion from a month earlier. The previous record of US$1.07 trillion was recorded in November last year. Igarashi, who was appointed to his post last month, is a ruling Democratic Party of Japan politician who once cited traders as saying Japan’s intervention efforts were “foolish.” The 61-year-old lawmaker started out as a political reporter at Jiji Press.
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he would explain last month’s action to his counterparts at the gathering of G7 finance ministers and central bankers after the sales were criticized by European officials and US lawmakers. Noda declined to comment on the currency’s advance in Tokyo yesterday.
Japan’s sales came after countries from China to Brazil and South Korea pursued steps to limit gains in their currencies.
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday that “there are concerns about interventions in currency markets” and that he’s “sure” the issue would be discussed in Washington.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS