The G20 summit in Pittsburg reaffirmed the need for a common set of policies to correct global imbalances, and the G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs, meeting later on in Istanbul, agreed that wild fluctuations in exchange rates harm global economic and financial stability.

However, it is not easy to make exchange-rate adjustments at the same time you're trying to stabilize them because the two acts contradict each other. I would like to shed some light on several points that ought to be considered when monitoring currency exchange issues.

First, it is only natural for yen appreciation to boost Japanese purchasing power as salaries decline. Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii did nothing more than point out the obvious when he discussed the benefits of having a strong yen. It is exactly for that reason the United States repeatedly emphasizes the need for a strong dollar, even though it incurs huge current account deficits.