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TOKYO/OSAKA -Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said authorities stood ready to respond to speculative currency moves, a fresh warning that comes days after Tokyo intervened in the foreign exchange market to stem yen falls for the first time in over two decades.
Suzuki also told a news conference on Monday the government and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) were on the same page in sharing concerns about the currency’s sharp declines.
“We are deeply concerned about recent rapid and one-sided market moves driven in part by speculative” trading,” Suzuki told the news conference. “There’s no change to our stance of being ready to respond as needed” to such moves, he added.
BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda echoed Suzuki’s warning that rapid yen moves were undesirable, but stressed his resolve to maintain the ultra-low interest rates blamed by analysts for accelerating the Japanese currency’s declines.
“There are heightening fears of a global economic slowdown,” which could affect Japan’s economy, Kuroda said.
“If risks to the economy materialize, we will obviously take various monetary easing steps without hesitation as needed,” he told a meeting with business executives in Osaka, western Japan.
The remarks came after the government’s decision on Thursday to intervene in the currency market to stem yen weakness by selling dollars and buying yen for the first time since 1998.
