Image Credits: CNBC
Japan’s Finance Ministry revealed on Wednesday that the government expended ¥5,534.8 billion on foreign exchange market interventions between June 27 and Monday. This substantial expenditure comes in response to significant fluctuations in the yen’s value against the dollar.
On July 11-12, the dollar experienced a sharp decline against the yen, leading to speculation that Japanese authorities conducted covert yen-buying and dollar-selling operations estimated between ¥5 trillion and ¥6 trillion. Such stealth interventions, where authorities do not immediately disclose their actions, are intended to enhance the effectiveness of the measures by inducing uncertainty about their timing.
This recent intervention follows an earlier round of market operations in April-May, during which the Japanese government spent ¥9.7 trillion to stabilize the yen as the dollar surged beyond ¥160 on April 29.
The latest disclosure provides the total amount spent on interventions for the one-month period but does not detail the daily expenditure. Detailed breakdowns for each day, as well as data for August and September, will be published in early November.
The yen’s drop from approximately ¥161 to ¥157 on July 11, following the release of the U.S. consumer price index for June, and a subsequent fall from around ¥159 to ¥157 on July 12, after the U.S. producer price index release, prompted these interventions. Market estimates suggest that Japanese authorities may have spent between ¥3 trillion and ¥4 trillion on July 11 alone, with additional expenditures of about ¥2 trillion on July 12.
Masato Kanda, who was Japan’s Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs and overseer of these interventions, expressed concerns about currency movements diverging from economic fundamentals. Kanda, who has now stepped down from his role, was instrumental in managing these critical forex operations.
The scale and frequency of these interventions underscore Japan’s ongoing challenges in stabilizing its currency and highlight the broader economic implications of its actions in the global financial markets.