Japan’s Finance Ministry’s Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Kanda. He is the official who will instruct the BOJ to intervene, when he judges it necessary. Often referred to as Japan’s ‘top currency diplomat’.
If you are confused about Kanda commenting, I get it. Japan appointed a replacement,
Atsushi Mimura, at the end of June. However, he takes over from Kanda on July 31, following the meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Rio de Janeiro from July 25. So for now, its still Mr. K in the big chair.
USD/JPY is above 159.40, nibbling away at its overnight ‘gap’ down.
Kanda’s comments:
- Recent yen moves are somewhat rapid
- Will take
appropriate action on forex if needed - Did not comment
whether intervened fx market - Can’t think if
government officials commented on forex intervention - Yen moved 5% in the
past month, which is significant - It is natural to
think recent forex moves were driven by speculators - Weak yen pushes up
import costs, which would hurt people’s lives - Undesirable if
excessive forex moves triggered by speculators hurt people’s lives
Some dude in the comments splitting grammatical hairs, here you go:
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com. Source