At a regular press conference, Japan Foreign Trade Council Chairman Okafuji (岡藤) said the current dollar-yen rate was generally around ¥155 and that the yen should strengthen further. He also commented on the government’s proposed consumption tax cut and the capital ties of the trading companies.
At a regular press conference, Japan Foreign Trade Council Chairman Okafuji Masahiro (岡藤正広) commented on the exchange rate level of around ¥155 to the dollar. He said the yen should “strengthen further,” indicating that ¥160 to the dollar was extreme, while refraining from commenting on whether a return to ¥130 would be desirable. He said the weak yen directly affects people’s lives, public finances and inflation.
The government approved a tax reform outline for a consumption tax cut on the 16th, outlining a policy to reduce the tax rate on food products from 8% to 1% starting in April 2027. Chairman Okafuji (岡藤) said the cut must be implemented quickly or the public would suffer the most, and also criticized any postponement of the resolution for partisan political purposes.
Regarding the situation in the Middle East, reports said that Yemen’s Houthi armed group had seized ports near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while damage to a pipeline linking Saudi Arabia was also reported. Chairman Okafuji (岡藤) said he believed oil supplies via Saudi Arabia would stop for some time, while noting that Japan had alternative sources of supply in the United States and relatively substantial oil reserves.
On the trading companies’ resource development activities, he emphasized that they could not always generate profits, but represented investments made in the national interest and carried risks. He also referred to the fact that five major trading companies had received investments of more than 10% from U.S. investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, expressing the view that even if the investment ratio reached 15%, Berkshire Hathaway had no intention of intervening in the companies’ management policies in detail.