Japan’s Suzuki Says Yen Set by ‘Various Factors’ Beyond Rate Gap

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said an interest rate gap with the US is just one of many factors weighing on the yen, which is hovering around a 34-year low against the dollar.

“The level of exchange rates is not only determined by the difference in interest rates, but also by various factors" including economic conditions, market sentiment and speculation, Suzuki said on Thursday in Washington, after a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations. “I don’t believe that the rate difference alone is setting the current level."

Currencies were not on the G-20 agenda and therefore he didn’t bring up the topic at the meeting, Suzuki said. Still, throughout other occasions in Washington, Japan was able to confirm close communications on foreign exchange with some of its peers, he said.

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In previous G-20 meetings, the members have agreed on a foreign-exchange policy that leaves the door open for nations to counter excessive currency moves if they’re considered harmful to their economies.

In Washington, Suzuki and Masato Kanda, Japan’s top currency official, have raised alarms over the yen, which market participants see as a way to lay the groundwork for a currency intervention.

On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen took note of “serious concerns" over the weakness of the yen and the Korean won in her meeting with Suzuki and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok. Later that day, Japan pressed its Group of Seven peers to reaffirm their commitments on foreign exchange, similar to G-20’s.

The yen has remained under pressure as the US-Japan interest rate gap stays wider for longer than expected. A resilient US economy has pushed back prospects of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while the Bank of Japan has signaled it won’t raise rates quickly.

The weaker yen could affect Japan’s inflation via higher import costs, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said at the joint press conference with Suzuki.

“If such an impact is too large to ignore, there may be a change in monetary policy," Ueda said ,adding that the yen’s recent slide would be factored into the BOJ’s new price and growth projections, due on April 26.

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