Japan ruling party heavyweight calls for $239 billion extra budget, BOJ’s push to weaker JPY

Early Wednesday in Asia, Reuters quoted Japan’s senior ruling party lawmaker Kozo Yamamoto to confirm extra budget, up for publishing in October or November, as well as an extra push to the Bank of Japan (BOJ) towards policies driving the Japanese yen (JPY) weaker.

"The BOJ must do more because Japan appears to be sliding back to deflation. Instead, the BOJ is stealth tapering asset purchases," Yamamoto told Reuters in an interview. "The BOJ should seek to weaken the yen more", he said.

Reuters also mentions that Yamamoto called for compiling a 26-trillion-yen ($239 billion) extra budget as soon as possible to pull the pandemic-hit economy out of the doldrums, a proposal he made at a party panel headed by Abe.

USD/JPY eases from intraday high…

Following the release, USD/JPY steps back from the intraday high of 108.82 to 108.75.

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