Tuesday Sep 08, 2026
Tuesday Sep 08, 2026
Tuesday, 8 September 2026 03:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Japan’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 1.2 trillion at the end of August, falling by a record $ 79.6 billion, or 6.18%, over the month.
According to Japan’s Finance Ministry, the decline followed large-scale dollar-selling and yen-buying operations aimed at curbing the weakening of the Japanese currency.
This was the largest monthly decline in Japan’s reserves on record. At the end of July, they stood at nearly $ 1.3 trillion.
Foreign securities, which are mainly represented by US Treasury Bonds, saw the largest decrease.
They account for about 70% of Japan’s reserves. These securities were largely acquired during dollar-buying operations around two decades ago.
From 30 July to 26 August, Japan spent ¥ 15.4 trillion, or $ 98.66 billion, on currency interventions. According to the Finance Ministry, this was the largest volume of interventions in a single month since records began.
The interventions helped the yen strengthen from nearly ¥ 164 per US dollar — a level close to a 40-year low — to ¥ 155.20 per dollar by 3 August.
Subsequently, the Japanese currency weakened again to nearly ¥ 160 yen per dollar, but recovered to ¥ 155–156 yen per dollar in early September.
Japan conducted some of its yen-buying operations jointly with the United States. This was the first coordinated currency intervention by the two countries since 2011. Tokyo and Washington also stated that Japan could use a US Federal Reserve mechanism created in 2020 to obtain dollar liquidity without directly selling US Government bonds.
