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Reuters

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Monday she ‌met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and agreed that orderly yen movement is critical for global market stability.
The ⁠two countries also confirmed that ‌continued, cooperative measures would contribute to this common goal, ‌Katayama told reporters after attending the ⁠Group ⁠of 20 finance leaders’ gathering. She declined ‌to comment when asked if recent yen ‌moves ‌were orderly.
Katayama and Bessent discussed ‌Japan’s financial policy, the earlier ⁠coordinated yen intervention and other topics, ⁠a senior Japanese official present at the ‌meeting told reporters.
On Monday, Scott Bessent said he believed Japan’s government and central bank would take action leading ‌to a stronger yen, signalling a strong chance of a Bank of Japan (BOJ) interest rate increases in September.
“I have information that the market doesn’t have, and it’s my belief that the Japanese government and the BOJ will do the things that will lead to a stronger yen,” Bessent told CNBC in an interview during a Group of 20 finance leaders’ gathering ⁠in Asheville, North Carolina.
When asked whether that meant raising interest rates, Bessent said: “I think the market’s pricing that in now.”

The yen gained against the dollar after ‌Bessent’s comments, which reinforced dominant market expectations the BOJ will raise rates at its next policy meeting in September.
Bessent met Ueda on Sunday and Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Monday, a senior US Treasury Department official told Japanese ⁠public broadcaster NHK on Monday.
In ⁠the meetings, Bessent called for the need for further rate increases and for Japan to clearly show markets how it would achieve fiscal sustainability, Erin Browne, undersecretary for international affairs at the ‌US Department of the Treasury, was quoted as saying in an interview with NHK.
Sources have said the BOJ is set to raise rates ‌as soon ‌as its September 17-18 meeting and is considering hiking more aggressively than the current pace of roughly two times a year after that session.
Bessent’s repeated ‌calls for BOJ rate increases have been among the factors that led markets to nearly fully price in the chance of a September increase. The ⁠Japanese central bank raised rates in June.

An increase next month, rather than in October, could fuel market bets the BOJ would raise rates once every quarter, ⁠some analysts said.
A weak yen has pushed up import prices and broader inflation, causing headaches for Japanese policymakers. It has been blamed in part on the slow pace of rate increases by the BOJ, which has kept Japan’s rate divergence with the US wide.
Japan and ‌the US carried out a rare ‌joint yen-buying intervention on July 31, signalling their determination to prevent a sell-off in the yen and Japanese government bonds from spilling over into global markets.
While that action failed to put a sustained floor under the yen, Bessent said he did not see recent yen moves as disorderly, suggesting Washington was in no mood to join Tokyo for another foray into the market to prop up the currency.
Japan’s Finance Ministry announced on Friday that its intervention in the market over the preceding month hit a record 15.4 trillion yen (US$96.4 billion). The US has yet to disclose how much yen it bought, but the sum is expected to be far smaller.
The Treasury secretary has repeatedly hinted over the past year that he would prefer that the BOJ raise interest rates to help the yen rather than see repeated intervention in the market.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


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US Treasury’s Bessent calls on Japan to boost yen through rate increases

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A man shops at a grocery store in Tokyo’s Okubo district on August 23. Photo: AFP

A notepad in front of US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent reads “To Do Buy Japanese Yen $5-10 bil” as he takes part in a cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31. Photo: Reuters

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to the press during the G20 Financial meetings on Monday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Prices of items are displayed at a retail store in Tokyo on July 28. Photo: Reuters

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A woman looks at an electronic screen showing current and recent Japanese yen exchange rates against the US dollar on Monday. Photo: Reuters

A man walks past a board showing the US dollar and Japanese yen exchange rate at a securities firm in Tokyo on Monday. Photo: AFP

A notepad in front of US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent reads “To Do Buy Japanese Yen $5-10 bil” during a cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday. Photo: Reuters

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A man walks past an electronic screen displaying the current Japanese yen exchange rate on August 3, after a rare joint US-Japan intervention to prop up the currency. Photo: Reuters

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A notepad in front of US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent reads “To Do Buy Japanese Yen $5-10 bil” during a cabinet meeting on Friday. Photo: Reuters

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An electronic board showing the US dollar and Japanese yen exchange rate at a securities firm in Tokyo on August 3. Photo: AP 

Employees at exchange trading company Gaitame.com work in front of monitors displaying the yen-to-dollar rate in Tokyo, Japan, on June 30. Photo: Reuters

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A person walks past an electronic board showing Japan’s Nikkei index chart in Tokyo on August 6. At a time when the US is the main source of volatility in global markets, Washington’s participation in the Japanese currency intervention adds another layer of uncertainty. Photo: AP

A notepad in front of US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent reads “To Do: Buy Japanese Yen” as he participates in a cabinet meeting at Camp David, Maryland, US, on July 31. Photo: Reuters

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Asia

East Asia

A weak yen, which has pushed up import prices and broader inflation, has been blamed in part on the central bank’s slow pace of rate increases


A weak yen, which has pushed up import prices and broader inflation, has been blamed in part on the central bank’s slow pace of rate increases.


US Treasury’s Bessent calls on Japan to boost yen through rate increases

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A weak yen, which has pushed up import prices and broader inflation, has been blamed in part on the central bank’s slow pace of rate increases

A weak yen, which has pushed up import prices and broader inflation, has been blamed in part on the central bank’s slow pace of rate increases