Key Finance Ministry Official Kanda Retires; Fought Deprecation of Yen for 3 Years

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:28 JST, August 1, 2024

Masato Kanda, 59, was appointed a special advisor to the Cabinet on Thursday, after having retired as vice finance minister for international affairs on Wednesday.

Kanda, who was involved in foreign currency exchange policies and international negotiations for three years from 2021, is to help the government in areas such as the international economy.

During his tenure at the Finance Ministry, he made several remarks to counter speculators amid the yen’s depreciation, which attracted the attention of the market.

In September 2022, when the government and the Bank of Japan carried out a yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention for the first time in 24 years to put the brakes on the yen’s sharp decline, Kanda led the practical operation. He told the press just before the intervention, “We are a state of readiness,” strongly implying that the government was ready to intervene any time.

During his tenure, interventions were also carried out in October 2022, as well as from April to May and from June to July of this year, totaling about ¥25 trillion in confirmed amounts.

Masahiro Ichikawa of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company said, “Kanda’s remarks conveyed the messages that the Finance Ministry is always watching.” Regarding Kanda’s successor, former International Bureau Director General Atsushi Mimura, 57, Ichikawa said, “I think the basic stance will remain the same.”

Since March, Kanda had presided over a group of experts that analyzed the balance of international payments and discussed challenges facing the Japanese economy. The suggestions for strengthening Japan’s international competitiveness were compiled in a report that was published on July 2.