TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s new Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Thursday she would not stand by remarks she made in March suggesting the yen’s real value is closer to 120-130 per dollar, citing her current position as minister overseeing currency policy.
“In my current position, I obviously can’t endorse my past remarks,” Katayama told broadcaster TV Tokyo in an interview recorded early on Thursday afternoon.
Katayama was referring to comments she made in an interview with Reuters in March, when the veteran upper house lawmaker said she believed levels of 120 to 130 against the dollar were “seen as the value reflecting Japan’s economic strength”.
Katayama’s comments in March were made when the yen had fallen to around 150 against the dollar. The yen was most recently trading at 154.20 per dollar, having fallen after the Bank of Japan decided to keep interest rates unchanged.
“It’s always been the case that markets’ movements are often unrelated to real demand,” she said on Thursday.
“What the Japanese government can do is to steer the fundamentals onto a sound and reasonable growth path, while also maintaining Japan’s credibility,” she added.
She also said she believes the Bank of Japan’s decision to keep interest rates steady on Thursday was “extremely reasonable in light of overall current economic conditions”.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alexander Smith)
