Japan tells G20 must watch FX moves with high sense of urgency

BANGKOK, Oct 15 : Japan told its G20 counterparts that authorities must watch exchange-rate moves with a high sense of urgency, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Thursday.

The G20 finance leaders re-confirmed their commitment on currency policy, Katayama told reporters after attending the group's gathering, held on the sidelines of the annual IMF meetings in Bangkok this week.

"I told the gathering that we must closely watch financial market developments with a high sense of urgency," Katayama said on Japan's exchange-rate policy.

The remarks came as the yen's persistent weakness keeps market players on alert over the chance of another round of intervention by authorities to prop up the currency.

The G20 agrees that exchange-rate moves should be determined by markets but that excessively volatile and disorderly moves were undesirable - a line Japan points to as giving it authority to step into the market to arrest unwelcome yen swings.

A weak yen has become a source of concern for Japanese policymakers by pushing up the cost of imports, including for fuel, which has spiked due to the Middle East war.

Katayama said the G20 finance leaders did not produce a joint communique or a chair's statement during their meeting on Thursday.

When asked about the G20 group's discussions around rising long-term interest rates, Katayama said she told the group that each country must strive to achieve its fiscal sustainability goals, but at the same time use fiscal scope to boost investment in growth areas.