Overview
- Treasury Secretary Besent, who met BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda on Tuesday in Paris during the G7 finance gathering, disclosed the talks on X.
- Besent said Japan’s economy looks strong, voiced confidence in Ueda’s guidance of monetary policy, and repeated that excessive exchange‑rate swings are undesirable.
- The yen remains weak near ¥159 per dollar following late‑April and reported early‑May yen‑buying, dollar‑selling interventions that sought to slow a slide toward ¥160.
- Former BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned that the impact of currency intervention is hard to keep going, a view that reflects market doubts about lasting effects.
- In a Reuters interview cited by The Mainichi, Besent emphasized the BOJ’s independence as traders watch the June policy meeting for a possible rate increase, a reading some in markets see as favoring policy moves over further currency intervention.