Yen Falls for 13th Day, Longest Streak Since 1971... Japanese Finance Minister Says "Will Discuss at G20 Meeting"

Suzuki Shunichi, Japanese Minister of Finance
Photo by AFP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Suzuki Shunichi, Japan's Finance Minister, stated at the Group of Twenty (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting that he will closely communicate with the United States and other countries' monetary authorities regarding appropriate responses to currency movements. He was referring to the yen exchange rate, which recently plunged to its lowest level in 20 years.

According to major foreign media on the 19th, Finance Minister Suzuki made these remarks ahead of his visit to Washington, USA, to attend the G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

Regarding the recent sharp decline of the yen, Finance Minister Suzuki said it is undesirable. He reiterated the same position he expressed the previous day at the House of Representatives Committee on Budget and Administration Oversight.

At the parliament the day before, Finance Minister Suzuki said, "The yen's weakness is undesirable while companies have not yet sufficiently raised prices or wages," adding, "The current yen weakness is not good."

He emphasized that Japan's monetary authorities are carefully monitoring how the yen's weakness affects the economy and that stabilizing the currency market is important.

Finance Minister Suzuki declined to answer questions about possible responses such as market intervention by the Japanese government or the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to counter the yen's weakness.

The yen has weakened due to the Bank of Japan's continued policy of economic stimulus. Conversely, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) has been tightening monetary policy by raising benchmark interest rates, causing the yen to weaken against the dollar. This year, the yen's value against the dollar has fallen by about 10%.

Bloomberg reported that the yen continues to weaken against the dollar, marking the 13th consecutive day of decline. Furthermore, Bloomberg explained that this 13-day consecutive decline is the longest period of depreciation since Bloomberg began compiling related statistics in 1971.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.