Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda believes that the yen is currently at an appropriate level for the county's trading partners, but stopped short of saying that it was at the "right" level to reflect Japan's economic fundamentals.
When asked why President-elect Donald Trump had refrained from singling out Japan in recent months and its exchange rate movements, he said that Japan now had a much smaller trade surplus and highlighted that the yen had depreciated "somewhat" in the last couple of months.
Japan and Kuroda have embarked on a massive monetary stimulus program in recent years, and a falling yen has added to concerns over global "currency wars" — where countries try to purposely devalue their currencies.
Kuroda disagreed that the current level of the yen was "about right", however.
"The exchange should reflect the economic fundamentals and be stable. Because economic fundamentals move only slowly, so if the economic fundamentals move slowly then the exchange rate also moves slowly. Not gyrate like in the last couple of months," he added, predicting that volatility in currency markets should calm down this year.
