Japan will explain about downside risks to the economy from the rising yen at an upcoming meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized economies, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Friday.
Finance ministers and central bank governors from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States will gather next month in Tokyo on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“The yen has traded at historically high levels,” Azumi told reporters before leaving his current post, possibly next week, due to the reshuffle of the leadership of the ruling party. His successor will “explain about what downside risks Japan faces and how a stronger yen has demerits” at the G-7 meeting.
Many of Japan’s G-7 partners have opposed Japan’s unilateral market interventions to stem the sharp rise of the yen against the U.S. dollar and other major currencies. Tokyo has refrained from stepping into the foreign exchange market for nearly a year.
Azumi has been named to assume the post of acting secretary general in Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan.
On recent government data showing weaker production and exports, Azumi said a slowdown in overseas economies, particularly Europe, has affected Japan’s economic figures.
via Mainichi
