TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters) – Japan’s top currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura said on Thursday that the International Monetary Fund’s classification of the country as having a free floating exchange rate regime does not restrict the frequency of currency intervention.
Mimura, the vice finance minister for international affairs, was speaking to reporters when asked about recent currency moves and the IMF classification, under which more than three interventions in six months can call into question a currency’s “free‑floating” status.
Mimura declined to comment on foreign exchange levels but said he continued to closely watch the foreign exchange market.
“Our focus, consistently and without change, is directed in all directions,” he added, when asked about the oil futures market’s influence on foreign exchange.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi next week to discuss curbing speculative yen selling, among other issues, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday, citing Japan-U.S. diplomatic sources.
Mimura declined to comment on Bessent’s reported visit but said he remained in daily contact with U.S. authorities, adding that his counterparts “fully understand our thinking and our actions.”
Sources told Reuters that authorities intervened on Thursday last week, with money market data suggesting they sold about $35 billion to support the yen. Since then, the market has seen three abrupt spikes in the yen through to Wednesday.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama, Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Shri Navaratnam)
