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.”
US Treasury’s Bessent calls on Japan to boost yen through 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.
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