JAPAN doesn’t have cause to intervene in foreign exchange markets now to halt the appreciation of the yen, said Luc Everaert, the International Monetary Fund’s mission chief for the country.

    “Unless there are very disorderly movements in exchange rates, there is no good reason for Japan to intervene at this point,” he said yesterday. “What’s much more important is that Japan adopts domestic policies to strengthen growth and inflation in the economy and let the exchange rate move however it wants to.”

    The yen has gained about 11 percent this year, hampering Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s efforts to attain his 2 percent inflation target and undercutting the competitiveness of Japanese exporters.

    The IMF has just cut its economic growth forecasts for Japan and now sees gross domestic product expanding just 0.5 percent this year and shrinking slightly in 2017.

    Everaert’s comments indicate that despite the problems faced in Tokyo, any suggestion of intervention from Japan will get a frosty reception from central bankers and finance chiefs gathering in Washington this week.

    Eisuke Sakakibara, the man whose ability to move Japan’s currency in the late 1990s earned him the name “Mr. Yen,” this week advised against intervention.

    Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said this week that he’s watching currency markets with a sense of vigilance and that Japan will take action as needed if there are one-sided moves. (SD-Agencies)