Japan Action on Currency Wins G7 Understanding: Katayama

Paris, May 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Tuesday that her Group of Seven counterparts showed their understanding on Japan’s recent yen-buying, dollar-selling market intervention. At the just-ended meeting in Paris of the finance ministers and central bank governors of the major economies, the Japanese authorities’ action to prop up the yen “won broad understanding,” Katayama told a press conference after the meeting. “We’re determined to take decisive action whenever necessary,” she stressed. On the night of April 30, her ministry bought through the Bank of Japan an estimated 5 trillion to 6 trillion yen against the dollar. The finance and monetary chiefs of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union adopted a joint statement Tuesday reaffirming the consensus view shown in their 2017 communique that “excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for economic and financial stability.” The Paris meeting also focused on the issue of China’s current account imbalance caused in part by overproduction. “We almost agreed that China has no intention of correcting distorting nonmarket practices,” Katayama said. “It is necessary to have the G7 leaders issue a well-knit statement” on the matter at their meeting next month, she added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]