IMF sees weak yen beneficial for Japan's economy, urges gradual rate hikes
By Leika Kihara
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) -A weak yen is beneficial for Japan's economy as the boost to exports exceeds the increase in cost of imports, the International Monetary Fund's Japan mission chief Nada Choueiri told Reuters on Friday.
"Japan is a very outward-oriented economy, and a very open economy," which means on a net basis, the benefit from rising exports from a weak yen exceeds the rising costs in imports, she said. "So, the yen depreciation on net benefits growth in Japan," Choueiri said in an interview.
"It's important to recognize that the Japanese authorities are committed to a flexible exchange rate regime," she said, when asked whether rapid yen moves would justify Tokyo intervening in the currency market.
The yen has resumed its declines recently against the dollar on expectations that the U.S.-Japan interest rate divergence will remain wide, posing a headache for Japanese authorities who fret of the hit to households and retailers from rising import costs from a weak yen.
On monetary policy, she urged the Bank of Japan to tread cautiously in raising interest rates, as risks to inflation were balanced and there was high uncertainty on the outlook.
"The first priority is to remain data-dependent and analyze all the data that comes, and to be very, very gradual in the process of raising the policy rate," she said.
"But we do see that the path will be towards rate increases over the policy horizon," she said.
Japan's central bank is widely expected at a two-day policy meeting next week to keep its short-term policy rate steady at 0.25% and roughly maintain its forecast of inflation hovering around 2% through March 2027.
It ended its negative rates policy in March and delivered a rate hike in July on the view that the country was making progress toward sustainably achieving its 2% inflation target.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has said the central bank will keep raising rates if the economy moves in line with its forecast. But he has also stressed the need to scrutinize global uncertainties, such as the U.S. economic outlook, in timing the next rate hike.
Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Andrea Ricci
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
