Wrong wrong wrong

BOJ Easing Would Trump Intervention in Weakening Yen, Okubo Says

By Mayumi Otsuma and Kyoko Shimodoi

April 11 (Bloomberg) — Further stimulus by the Bank of Japan would be more effective in weakening the yen than currency intervention, a ruling party lawmaker said, a sign politicians will continue to press the BOJ to do more.

“It’s obvious that the central bank’s policies have more influence over the currency than intervention,” Tsutomu Okubo, a Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday, citing the yen’s depreciation of more than 4 percent against the dollar since the BOJ added stimulus Feb. 14.

The BOJ refrained from easing policy at a meeting on April 10, spurring calls from DPJ lawmakers including Takeshi Miyazaki for them to undertake “bold and large-scale” action when they gather on April 27. The BOJ’s February decision to increase its asset-purchase fund helped weaken the yen close to an 11-month low against the dollar on March 15.

“Interventions are effective in correcting extraordinary and speculative currency moves, but they aren’t very good at addressing structural and long-term problems,” said Okubo, who’s the deputy head of the DPJ’s policy research council and a former managing director at Morgan Stanley. “It’s obvious what kind of actions the Bank of Japan (8301) should be taking.”