On Tuesday, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said the country’s monetary policy wouldn’t alter right away as the United States removed Japan from its monitoring list, noting that Washington was consulted before the action was taken.
Suzuki told reporters, “As for currency policy, we’ll keep close communications with the United States and other countries.” “The fact that Japan was removed from the list doesn’t immediately mean that we would respond in a different way from before or there’s any impact.”
On Friday, the U.S. The Treasury stated that it had determined that none of the country’s main trading partners had manipulated the currencies to gain an export advantage. It also said that Switzerland’s “enhanced analysis” was completed after it met one of the three manipulation criteria.
The Treasury said that Switzerland, along with six other trading partners (China, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea), remains on the “monitoring list” for close attention to foreign exchange and economic policies.
Japan was taken off the monitoring list, according to a Treasury official, because it only met one of the three requirements for two consecutive monitoring periods. The report covers the four quarters that concluded on December 31, 2022, in terms of foreign exchange activities.
The last time Japan intervened in the market was in October 2022. Japan intervened to prevent the yen from falling against the dollar to a 32-year low near 152 yen, which could cushion a low from the shock of rising import costs for households.
The dollar rose to its highest since November on Tuesday as it hit 142.26 yen in early Asia trade. As a result of the Bank of Japan’s decision to maintain its easing policy on Friday.
“Currency levels such as the dollar/yen should be determined by markets based on fundamentals and stable moves are desirable,” Suzuki said. “We will continue to closely watch daily currency moves.”
- Published By Team Genuine Reporter