U.S. Removes Call for BOJ to Raise Interest Rates

Washington, Jan. 29 (Jiji Press)--The U.S. Treasury Department removed its call for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in a semiannual report released Thursday.

In the previous report, released in June last year, the department said, "BOJ policy tightening should continue to proceed in response to domestic economic fundamentals including growth and inflation, supporting a normalization of the yen's weakness against the dollar and a much-needed structural rebalancing of bilateral trade."

Referring to BOJ policy tightening, a senior Treasury official said that "more than six months ago, we saw that as a pressing issue," adding, "Our focus has really shifted more to other factors."

The latest report cited "the prospects for more expansionary fiscal policies" under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as a reason for the yen's weakening.

"Japan is very transparent with respect to foreign exchange operations, publishing the total value of its foreign exchange interventions each month and the specific daily amounts and currencies used on a lagged quarterly basis," the report said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]