The MOF would have bought USD long ago if Paulson hadn’t gone around branding any CB a ‘currency manipulator’ and an international outlaw.
The USD is in freefall and is now the major source of inflation.
And maybe the Fed as seen the connection?
by Takeshi Takeuchi
(Dow Jones) Japanese currency authorities expressed alarm about the dollar’s fall close to the Y100-mark for the first time since 1995 but didn’t offer any clues about whether or when they might take any countermeasures.
Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and his vice minister on currency affairs, Naoyuki Shinohara, separately voiced caution after the dollar fell to Y100.19 in the mid-day Tokyo session.
Nukaga said it is “a shared perception among the G7 (Group of Seven industrialized countries) that excessive exchange rate moves are undesirable,” while Shinohara also noted “excessive foreign exchange moves are undesirable.”
The two point men for Japan’s currency policy also said they will “continue closely watching foreign exchange markets,” a code phrase that shows their displeasure about current dollar/yen moves.
Neither of them, however, commented on whether they are considering taking countermeasures against the dollar’s rapid fall against the yen.
But Shinohara repeated the word “excessive” a few times in exchanges with reporters, suggesting the ministry’s level of caution has been at least raised in response to the imminent possibility of the dollar’s break below the Y100-mark.
In the past, finance ministry officials usually stepped up their currency rhetoric in stages before intervening. Their remarks on yen strength often changed from “rapid” to “a bit sharp” to “brutal,” while they also threatened “appropriate action” as an advance warning before intervening.
