Group of Seven finance chiefs indicated they will tolerate a sliding yen for now as they intensified their focus on Japan’s recovery strategy.
Finance ministers and central bankers reaffirmed their February commitment to “not target exchange rates” at a meeting in Aylesbury, near London, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told reporters May 11.
The Bank of Japan “can and should ease again if the current measure does not seem to be working,” Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors in Tokyo, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
While signaling acceptance of the yen’s decline through 100 per dollar for the first time since 2009, G-7 policy makers said they examined Japan’s strategy and that they will monitor its impact on currencies. The yen has fallen 15 percent against the dollar this year and 13 percent versus the euro as the Bank of Japan stepped up monetary stimulus.
“Everybody watches exchange rate developments,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after the meeting. “We had a very intense discussion about Japan with our Japanese colleagues.”
The yen weakened past 102 per dollar for the first time since October 2008 today. It dropped 0.2 percent to 101.87 a dollar as of 10:12 a.m. in Tokyo after losing 2.6 percent last week, the most in five weeks. It fell to 102.15 earlier.
