Japanese authorities spent a record 7.98 trillion yen, equivalent to $50.4 billion, on July 30 to defend the national currency from a steep slide against the U.S. dollar.
Finance Ministry Releases Detailed Intervention Breakdown
The Japanese Ministry of Finance released data on Monday detailing a heavy series of currency-support operations conducted over the summer. The single-day deployment on July 30 surpassed the previous record of 6.28 trillion yen spent on April 30, according to records dating back to 1991. Ministry figures published on a date-and-time basis listed the precise outlays as 7.9756 trillion yen on July 30, 5.5523 trillion yen on July 31, and 1.8714 trillion yen on August 3, bringing the three-day aggregate to 15.3993 trillion yen.
The previous peak for daily expenditures had been 6.2787 trillion yen on April 30. Earlier in the year, the government and the Bank of Japan had already deployed 11.7349 trillion yen across April 30, May 4, and May 6. In total, the administration poured 15.3993 trillion yen into interventions between July 30 and August 26, establishing a new record for monthly spending volume. Authorities initially conducted these operations as stealth interventions without immediate public announcements.
The July 30 operation formed part of a three-day campaign. The Asahi Shimbun reported that authorities followed up by spending 5.55 trillion yen on July 31 and another 1.87 trillion yen on August 3. In total, Japan poured 15.4 trillion yen into the foreign exchange market between July 30 and August 26.
Market participants noted that the July 30 intervention occurred a day ahead of a monetary policy decision by the Bank of Japan, breaking from previous patterns of entering the market following major economic data releases or policy meetings.
Joint Operation With the United States
The July 31 operation included a rare joint intervention alongside the United States, Yahoo Finance UK noted in reporting Bloomberg’s findings. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stated that the maneuver aimed to counter disorderly market movements. Both finance officials confirmed that their respective offices remained fully prepared to act again should further needs arise.
The coordinated action marked the first joint yen-buying intervention since June 1998 following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the first joint currency operation of any kind between the two nations since March 2011, when they jointly sold yen following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Financial disclosures indicated that the published figures reflect solely Japan’s portion of the joint undertaking, as Washington omitted its specific spending totals.
The Yen Reaches Its Weakest Level in Nearly 40 Years
The heavy spending occurred as the yen dropped near the 164 range against the dollar, reaching its weakest level in roughly 40 years. Specifically, the currency slipped into the upper 163 range, marking a 39-year-and-eight-month low. Following the July interventions, the currency climbed to 152.89 per dollar in early September before giving up some of those gains. By the morning of November 9 in Tokyo, the exchange rate hovered around 158.30 per dollar.
The enormous scale of intervention underscored the government’s sense of urgency to stem the yen’s decline.
Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute, via Channel NewsAsia
Ueno added that unresolved geopolitical tensions surrounding Iran continued to exert downward pressure on the Japanese currency. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama affirmed that the government’s overall policy position regarding sharp exchange rate fluctuations remains unaltered, confirming that authorities stand fully prepared to execute bold measures whenever necessary.
