By KYOSUKE YAMAMOTO/ Staff Writer
September 22, 2022 at 18:55 JST
The Bank of Japan’s head office in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The government and the Bank of Japan on Sept. 22 intervened in the foreign exchange market in Tokyo to prop up the yen after the Japanese currency hit its lowest level in 24 years.
The move immediately pushed the currency up 3 yen to the 142 level against the dollar.
Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, who is in charge of foreign exchange policy, acknowledged the dollar-selling and yen-buying intervention.
“We have taken decisive measures,” he told reporters on the evening of Sept. 22.
It was Japan’s first foreign exchange intervention in about 10 years and 10 months.
The yen earlier in the day touched 145 against the dollar after the Bank of Japan decided to maintain its monetary easing policy.
The Japanese currency has shed about 30 yen in the half-year since March and is approaching the 1990 low of the upper 147 range to the dollar.
Adding to the yen’s decline was the U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s announcement for another sharp hike in interest rates. That statement came just hours before the BOJ policy meeting, where the Japanese central bank decided to stay the course.
The government and the central bank have expressed concerns that the weakening yen will harm the Japanese economy.
The BOJ conducted a rate check on Sept. 14, asking commercial banks about exchange rate levels. That was seen a precursor to an intervention to lift up the yen.
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