CashNews.co
TOKYO (Kyodo) — New Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said Monday that Japan will implement “necessary responses” to address recent volatility in the foreign exchange market and to mitigate the negative impact of sharp currency movements on corporate activity and households.
Kato made the remark during a group interview with media outlets, including Kyodo News, after assuming his post last week under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Earlier in the day, the dollar climbed to around 149.10 yen, its highest level since mid-August, as solid U.S. employment data dashed expectations of additional large interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Asked about the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy outlook, Kato said he expects the central bank to continue targeting a “stable and sustainable inflation of 2 percent.”
Kato, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, said the government hopes the bank will “thoroughly communicate with the markets.”
The weak yen remains one of the key challenges for the Ishiba administration as it inflates the prices of imports and raises the cost of living.
Under Ishiba’s predecessor, Fumio Kishida, Japan conducted bouts of yen-buying market interventions to prevent the currency’s sharp fall.
Kato, who was defeated by Ishiba in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential race late last month, is known to have been close to the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who promoted the deflation-fighting “Abenomics” program centering on drastic monetary easing and massive fiscal spending.