Japan Spends Record 15.3 T. Yen in July-Aug. Forex Interventions

Tokyo, Aug. 28 (Jiji Press)–Japanese authorities spent 15,399.3 billion yen in foreign exchange market interventions from July 30 to Wednesday, the Finance Ministry said Friday. The figure marked the largest-ever monthly amount spent on yen-buying, dollar-selling interventions. The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan conducted the interventions to curb the historic weakening of the yen. It marked the first series of yen-buying, dollar-selling interventions in about three months, following actions taken during Japan’s Golden Week holiday period between late April and early May. Japan spent a total of 11,734.9 billion yen in the previous interventions. The cumulative amount of foreign exchange intervention operations this year has exceeded 27 trillion yen, surpassing the previous annual record of about 15 trillion yen set in 2024. In late July, the dollar approached 164 yen, hitting the highest level in about 39 years and eight months. On the night of July 30, the dollar plunged by about 5 yen to slip below 158 yen, following the interventions by the Japanese authorities. The dollar advanced to over 160 yen the following day but fell below 158 yen again later. On Aug. 3, the greenback also dived against the yen. Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Aug. 3 that Japanese and U.S. authorities carried out a joint yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention for the first time in about 28 years on July 31. They expressed a commitment to coordinated efforts to stop the yen’s depreciation, saying that Japanese and U.S. authorities will not hesitate to further coordinate interventions. The size of U.S. intervention operations has not been disclosed. Despite the latest interventions, as of Friday the dollar had risen to around 160 yen, reflecting concerns about inflation stemming from the Middle East crisis, the interest rate gap between Japan and the United States and caution over the expansionary fiscal policy of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration. At a press conference the same day, Katayama said that a Japan-U.S. finance ministers’ joint statement released in September last year that supported currency market intervention is “very strong.” But many in the market believe it is challenging to reverse the weak yen trend solely through currency interventions. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]