TOKYO — Former Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on May 13, 2026, that Japan's recent foreign exchange intervention had limited prospects of producing a lasting effect on the yen, after authorities spent nearly 10 trillion yen to support the currency in operations that began on April 30. The dollar stood around 157.80 yen on the day of his remarks.

"Japanese authorities took decisive action against excessive yen declines this time. But it's hard to expect the move to have a lasting effect on the yen," Kuroda said.

The intervention was Japan's first official currency action in nearly two years. He said the operation had succeeded in halting a deeper slide in the currency.

"The recent bout of intervention did have some effect in the sense it prevented the yen from breaking below 160 per dollar, which would have caused further yen falls," he said. "It's unlikely for the yen to slide below 160 per dollar as authorities appeared to be stepping in to defend that level," he said.

Kuroda pointed to external pressures behind the currency's prolonged weakness. "The key drivers behind the yen's downtrend were the rising cost of importing oil since the Ukraine war that began in February 2022, and the interest rate divergence between Japan and the U.S.," he said. He also said Japan's economy was in "extremely good shape" and that inflation was moving around the central bank's 2 per cent target, driven by solid wage gains. On bond yields, he said: "With the central bank gradually raising its policy rate and inflation moving around 2-3 per cent, it's natural for the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to rise to current levels of around 2.58 per cent." On valuation, he said: "My belief is that a dollar/yen rate around 120-130 is seen as an equilibrium based on Japan's economic fundamentals."

Kuroda served as Governor of the Bank of Japan until 2023, deploying a stimulus package during his decade-long tenure aimed at pulling Japan out of prolonged deflation and economic stagnation. His successor, Kazuo Ueda, exited the ultra-loose policy in 2024.