Tag Archives: Yen

Noda Makes Consumption Tax Hike Pledge At G-20 Summit

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The world’s poster child for losing decades looks to stay a step ahead:

(Nikkei)–Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed Thursday to gradually raise the nation’s consumption tax to 10% by mid the 2010s during a summit meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies in Cannes, France.

The announcement at the summit has effectively made the tax hike an international pledge, and is expected to be included in an action program due out Friday.

Noda stressed the importance of rebuilding debt-ridden Japanese finances and told G-20 leaders that fiscal consolidation is a must “for Japan to be put back on a sound economic growth path, regardless of the debt crisis in the euro zone.”

He also spoke to reporters that a Diet dissolution should be carried out before implementing the tax hike. “If we go to the people in a general election (to seek a mandate on the consumption tax hike), we should do so after passing related bills but before implementing them,” he said.

As to Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, Noda told reporters he will accelerate efforts to iron out differences within the Democratic Party of Japan, which he leads. “We have to close ranks and shouldn’t be split,” he said.

Noda showed his flexibility in making concessions to a controversial redemption period of reconstruction bonds aimed at funding rebuilding efforts of the March 11 disaster, in hopes of enlisting support from the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, the main opposition parties.

“Our policy chief said that we envisage a 15-year period (for the redemption of reconstruction bonds), but there’s room for concessions,” he said.

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Gvt Risks Credibility By Ignoring Yen

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Buying $ is off balance sheet deficit spending and the easiest avenue politically.

If anything I am surprised they let it go this far. Their history of their economic model has been
to buy $ to support exports rather than cutting taxes to support domestic private sector demand.

On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Sean wrote:

This is the thinking that is going to really hurt Japan. The govt
fixation on freezing spending and relying on the BOJ to end deflation.
The yen is surging and according to the steelmakes lobby and automakes
“suffocating” them. The banks are bankrupts with the Nikkei below 7000
which means it will get there as everyone tries to reduce cross held
shares and hedge. In the past the govt bought prefrerred shares and BOJ
bought equities to ease the cross held share issue. The Nikkei
recovered and the banks survived. There doesn’t seem to be any
understanding of the problems or willingness to increase the deficit to
address what problems they do see.

OPINION: Government Risks Credibility By Ignoring Yen

TOKYO (Nikkei)–As the yen climbs higher, the real danger lies in
Japanese policymakers’ utter lack of readiness.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board has signaled a continuation of its
near-zero interest rate policy, which is fostering a booming dollar
carry trade. Gold prices are breaking records almost daily. And the
yen’s ascent to a 14-year high in Tokyo trading Thursday is another
manifestation of the dollar-selling tide.

Why is the yen attracting buying when Japan’s economy is stuck in low
gear and its stock market is performing worst among its peers? There are
a few reasons. Some Japanese short-term interest rates now exceed U.S.
rates. Moreover, unchecked deflation has given Japan loftier real
interest rates than the U.S., a fact that investment funds have been
exploiting, says Nomura Holdings Inc. President Kenichi Watanabe.

Interest-rate-driven yen-buying has nothing to do with Japan’s
fundamentals. An appreciation of the yen above and beyond the strength
of the economy threatens to cripple domestic firms just starting to
recover. Such concerns are encouraging selling of Japanese stocks even
as U.S. and European shares regain strength.

The bigger problem is Japanese authorities’ indifference to this risk.
Leave aside Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, who has backed away from
statements early on in his tenure that suggested an opposition to
currency market interventions. Even if he did flash the intervention
card, the market would see right through his bluff.

Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who also holds the economic policy
portfolio, has owned up to Japan’s deflation but has yet to prescribe a
remedy for it.
The government’s only accomplishment has been to freeze
2.9 trillion yen in spending in the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget. In
a budget-vetting frenzy, it has failed to chart a course for
macroeconomic policy.

Beating deflation requires monetary policy. The Bank of Japan has
decided to end its purchases of corporate bonds and commercial paper.
That gives the impression it is hurrying toward the exit from loose
monetary policy.

Meanwhile, companies are holding down wages, cutting jobs and relocating
not only production but R&D overseas.

A runaway yen hollowed out Japanese manufacturing in the 1990s. Now,
policymakers who refuse to face the facts are beckoning on another
hollowing that might kill the economy.

The dollar’s decline is a global phenomenon, and the yen’s appreciation
is its flip side. Nevertheless, Japan’s economy is sustaining the
heaviest damage of all. If it continues to ignore the situation, the
government will risk losing the trust of the financial markets.
–Translated from commentary by senior Nikkei staff writer Yoichi Takita
(The Nikkei Nov. 27 morning edition)


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Re: Yen strength

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(email exchange)

Yes! And it’s deep- Hungarian homeowners borrowed yen to buy their homes, for just one example.

And with Japan an importer of all its crude, lower prices make yen that much harder to get, much like USD. And maybe even more so.

>   
>   On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 9:17 AM, James wrote:
>   
>   Liquidation of Yen carry trades also in full force…..
>   


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Dow Jones: No mof intervention

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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?

MOF Frets Over Yen, But No Hint Of Intervention

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.

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