Reuters: US, Japan carry out first joint currency intervention in 15 years

Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama is expected to announce on August 3 that Tokyo and Washington have conducted their first joint currency market intervention in 15 years to halt the yen's decline, two Japanese government officials told Reuters.

According to sources in the financial markets, Japanese and US authorities carried out a series of yen-buying operations. The measures are intended to strengthen the Japanese currency, which has recently fallen to its weakest level against the US dollar since 1986.

The main factor behind the yen's depreciation is the widening gap between interest rates in the United States and Japan.

A few days ago, the Bank of Japan decided to keep its benchmark interest rate at 1%, while the Federal Reserve has maintained a tighter monetary policy.

By Jeyhun Aghazada