In a recent interview, the Finance Minister of Japan shrugged off claims that the Yen was undervalued and stated his conviction that the currency is consistent with Japan’s current economic situation. Japan’s economy has performed well in recent quarters, spurred by an increase in exports, which were in turn driven by a weak Yen. An influx in foreign capital has buoyed Japanese equities, and the Bank of Japan is currently mulling an interest rate hike. Meanwhile, the USD is moving towards a 3-year high against the Yen, and currency traders and economists, alike, are laboring to reconcile the increasingly positive outlook for Japan’s economy with the dismal performance of the Yen. The Japan Times reports:

Kaoru Yosano, economic and fiscal policy minister, separately said the dollar’s surge was not so much due to economic fundamentals as to the fact that long-term interest rates are significantly higher — and climbing — in the United States.

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