Japan stands ready to take decisive action in currency market, finance minister says
Japan's finance minister said the government stands ready to take decisive action in the currency market.
(Updated: 27 Oct 2026 01:36PM)
TOKYO, Oct 27 : Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Tuesday the government stood ready to take decisive action in the currency market, suggesting Tokyo has not lowered its guard against persistent weakness in the yen.
"We are always watching market moves, including now, with a high sense of urgency," Katayama told parliament, when asked about the impact the administration's fiscal policy could have on the yen and long-term interest rate moves.
"If needed, we are ready to take decisive action," she said, adding that currencies should move in a way that reflects economic fundamentals.
The yen fell against the dollar on Tuesday to 157.73, slipping from the one-month high it touched last week.
The BOJ is set to keep interest rates steady at its policy meeting on Friday but signal its resolve to continue raising borrowing costs to prevent inflation from overshooting its 2 per cent target.
With the policy rate still low compared to other major central banks, the BOJ's hawkish tone has failed to reverse a downward trend in the yen that has become a headache for Japanese policymakers by pushing up the cost of imports.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's big spending plans have also been blamed by some analysts for triggering a selloff in the yen and Japanese government bonds (JGB) by stoking concern over the country's worsening finances.
Japan and the US carried out a rare joint yen-buying intervention on July 31, signalling their determination to prevent the decline in the yen and Japanese government bonds from spilling over into global markets.
Source: Reuters
