Japan’s Kato: Must take action if necessary while monitoring impacts of forex moves

Japan’s newly appointed Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato on Monday that the government “must take action if necessary while monitoring impacts of forex moves on economic and household activities.”

Further comments

Weak Yen has both merits and demerits.

Will need to monitor how excessive forex moves will affect corporate activities and households.

Will leave to the Bank of Japan (BoJ) specific policy steps, when asked whether policy rate should be maintained at 0.25%.

Hope the BoJ will communicate with markets thoroughly and take appropriate policy to achieve 2% inflation target in a stable and sustainable manner.

Market reaction

USD/JPY holds the bounce near 148.50 following these above comments, still down 0.14% on the day.