Japan confirms first currency intervention since 2022 with $62 billion in spending

Data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance Friday confirmed the country’s first currency intervention since 2022, after the Japanese yen plunged to a 34-year-low in April.

This is the first time that the Japanese government has undertaken such a market measure since October 2022, according to ministry records.

The finance ministry on Friday stated that Japan spent 9.7885 trillion yen ($62.25 billion) on currency intervention between April 26 and May 29, according to a Google-translated statement.

The timeline of the government step coincides with a sharp rebound in the Japanese currency in recent weeks, after the yen plunged to a 34-year-low of 160.03 against the U.S. dollar on April 29. It later bounced to 156 levels later in that session, heating speculation of a potential intervention by Japanese authorities. The currency further strengthened by more than 2% within days.

At the time, analysts at Bank of America Global Research estimated that the size of the first suspected intervention could have been between 5 trillion and 6 trillion yen ($32.7 billion to $39.2 billion), based on Bank of Japan data.

The yen has been combating sustained pressure since the Bank of Japan ended its monetary policy of negative interest rates in March. It traded at 157.28 against the U.S. dollar at 11:37 a.m. London time on Friday.