Former MOF official and aide to PM Abe out with comments a short while ago
Reuters interview with Takatoshi Ito, who has close ties to BOJ gov Kuroda 12 May 2016
- likely to ease in June or July with an eye on Q1 GDP and outcome of G7 summit
- unthinkable for BOJ to resort to helicopter money
- Japan unlikely to gain G7 consent for co-ordinated fiscal policy action at summit this month
- whether Japan can intervene in FX market depends on whether it can convince US that yen moves are excessively volatile
- the yen level, not just pace of moves, is important in deciding whether Japan intervenes in FX market
Ito is currently a professor at Columbia University but worked with Kuroda when the two were senior officials at the MOF and retains regular contact with him.
Whether these comments carry additional credence on that basis is debatable but USDJPY has risen a little to post fresh session highs of 108.78 from 108.65
