TOKYO (Reuters) – Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday that recent foreign exchange intervention was conducted to contain excessive volatility, but such action should be done in a restrained manner.
“Foreign exchange intervention should be done with its necessity and effectiveness taken into account,” Suzuki said, speaking in a regular post-cabinet meeting news conference.
Data from the Ministry of Finance showed last week that authorities spent 9.79 trillion yen ($62.85 billion) intervening in the market to support the yen over the past month.
On Friday, data from the ministry showed that Japan’s foreign reserves fell to $1.23 trillion at the end of May, down $47.4 billion from a month earlier.
Suzuki said that the drop partly reflected the intervention.
($1 = 155.7800 yen)
