German Bundesbank President Hans Tietmeyer told Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga on Tuesday that the yen should be stronger to help the rest of Asia, a Finance Ministry official said.
Tietmeyer told Matsunaga that a weak yen is not desirable for Asian economies and that it should appreciate against the dollar, the official told the press.
The German central bank governor made the remarks during a discussion about the problematic banking sector with Matsunaga. Tietmeyer stressed that Japan needs to improve its confidence here and abroad by cleaning up the bad loan problem as fast as possible, the official said. Tietmeyer did not mention a specific yen-dollar exchange rate level, the official said.