Effects of Yen-Buying Intervention Brief: IMF Official

Washington, Oct. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japan's yen-buying currency market intervention conducted for the first time in 24 years last month will be effective only for a "short period," International Monetary Fund official Ranil Salgado has said.

Salgado, head of the IMF's mission to Japan, said that "intervention can slow the pace (of the yen's weakening), but it tends to be only for a short period."

He told reporters Wednesday that the yen was previously bought as a safe haven currency when global recessions happened.

But recently, yen selling is accelerating due to monetary policy differences between Japan and other countries, Salgado added.

The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan conducted the yen-buying operation last month because "they were also concerned that the pace in which the currency was adjusting was affecting (consumer) confidence in Japan," he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]