Japanese policymakers are turning their attention to more structural economic factors behind the yen’s continued decline, believing that market intervention is limited in its ability to reverse the currency’s broader decline.
Data due Friday will likely show that Japan spent roughly ยฅ9 trillion ($57.2 billion) in late April through early May to slow the yen’s decline, which hit a 34-year low below 160 to the dollar .
While the large interest rate differential between the US and Japan is usually attributed to the yen’s decline, the currency’s continued weakness has alerted policymakers to other, more fundamental factors, such as Japan’s declining global competitiveness.
