Japan’s Akazawa: Latest GDP data confirm economy is recovering modestly
Japanese Economy Minister and chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said on Friday that the latest data confirmed the Japanese economy is recovering modestly.
Key quotes
Must remain mindful of risks from US trade policies that could weigh on growth.
Rising prices could dampen consumer sentiment and hurt private consumption.
No comment on BoJ rate level.
Treasury Secretary Bessent did not call on BoJ to raise interest rates, said only that BoJ likely to raise rates as it was behind the curve on inflation.
Government, BoJ both striving to achieve 2% inflation, which will help achieve solid economic growth.
My understanding is that in latest US-Japan trade agreement chip-making equipment sector is included in chips.
But we have not specifically discussed this point with U.S yet.
U.S. tariff likely to push down Japan’s real GDP by 0.3–0.4%.
Market reaction
At the time of writing, the USD/JPY pair is trading 0.05% lower on the day to trade at 147.05.
Japanese Yen FAQs
The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.
One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy between 2013 and 2024 caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks. More recently, the gradually unwinding of this ultra-loose policy has given some support to the Yen.
Over the last decade, the BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supported a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favored the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen. The BoJ decision in 2024 to gradually abandon the ultra-loose policy, coupled with interest-rate cuts in other major central banks, is narrowing this differential.
The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.
Author
Lallalit Srijandorn
FXStreet
Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.
