Japanese authorities spent a record ¥15.39 trillion ($96 billion) in foreign exchange interventions between July 30 and August 26, 2026, marking the largest monthly amount ever recorded for yen-buying operations as the government moved to halt the currency’s historic depreciation against the dollar.
Record Intervention Totals and the Weak Yen
The Ministry of Finance revealed Friday that the government poured 15.39 trillion yen into foreign exchange markets over a roughly four-week span, surpassing the previous monthly record of $73.4 billion spent during three intervention rounds in April and May according to official data released Friday, which also exceeded market estimates that authorities had spent between $68.9 billion and $75.2 billion during the latest operations. The cumulative amount of foreign exchange intervention operations this year has exceeded ¥27 trillion, easily surpassing the previous annual record of about ¥15 trillion set in 2024. This year has seen two rounds of currency support measures totaling a record $170bn.
The extraordinary scale of the spending reflects intense pressure on the Japanese currency. In late July, the dollar approached ¥164, hitting the highest level in about 39 years and eight months, specifically reaching as high as 163.99 yen on July 23. Ministry of Finance data showed Friday that the resulting expenditures mark the largest amount ever deployed in a single intervention round, with foreign exchange intervention operations totaling 15.3993 trillion yen between July 30 and Aug. 26.
Joint U.S.-Japan Operations and Market Impact
The intervention strategy took a dramatic turn when Japanese and U.S. authorities carried out a joint yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention during New York trading hours on July 31, marking their first joint operation in 15 years (or the first in about 28 years depending on historical baseline accounts referenced by officials). Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Aug. 3 that Japanese and U.S. authorities carried out this joint operation, expressing a commitment to coordinated efforts to stop the yen’s depreciation and stating that Japanese and U.S. authorities will not hesitate to further coordinate interventions. The size of U.S. intervention operations has not been disclosed.
On the night of July 30, the dollar plunged by about ¥5 to slip below ¥158, following the interventions by the Japanese authorities. The dollar advanced to over ¥160 the following day but fell below ¥158 again later, and the coordinated move on July 31 briefly pushed the dollar down to the lower 155-yen range. On Aug. 3, the greenback also dived against the yen. Despite those temporary retreats, the U.S. currency has since recovered and is trading at around 159 yen (and as of Friday the dollar had risen to around ¥160).
Fiscal Pressures and Safe-Haven Demand
Currency analysts and officials point to multiple macroeconomic headwinds keeping the yen under persistent selling pressure. At the same time, demand for the dollar as a safe-haven asset amid uncertainty over the Iran war has compounded the currency’s decline, alongside concerns about inflation stemming from the Middle East crisis and the interest rate gap between Japan and the United States.
A weaker yen significantly elevates the cost of imported energy, food, and raw materials, adding to inflationary pressures on Japanese households and businesses. Yet despite the massive capital outlays, the dollar traded at around ¥160 by Friday. At a news conference the same day, Katayama said that a Japan-U.S. finance ministers’ joint statement released in September last year that supported currency market intervention is “very strong.” But many in the market believe it is challenging to reverse the weak yen trend solely through currency interventions, and the growing scale of currency interventions highlights the challenge governments face in influencing exchange rates amid rising cross-border capital flows.
Political Clashes Over Currency Strategy
U.S.
The Treasury Department has not provided a statement regarding congressional appropriations or credit extended to Japan.
Despite the political debate and record expenditures, many market participants remain skeptical that currency interventions alone can permanently reverse the weak yen trend against structural macroeconomic forces.
