A series of currency market interventions Japanese monetary authorities conducted from May to June to stem the yen's appreciation cost the government around 3.8 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
A report on the receipts and payments of Treasury funds released Thursday shows the Foreign Exchange Fund Special Account, mainly used by the Bank of Japan to intervene in the market on behalf of the ministry, incurred a deficit of 512.8 billion yen in July. In May and June, the total deficit was 3.294 trillion yen.
The total for May to June exceeds the 3.2 trillion yen the BOJ spent to suppress the yen immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The BOJ has intervened in the currency markets seven times -- three times in May and four in June -- to prevent yen appreciation from stifling Japan's nascent, export-led surge in economic activity.
The first two reports covered all but the last intervention on June 28, which was included in the July data because it was settled in that month.