Despite the conventional belief that a weak yen is a blessing for the Japanese economy, headlines over the past several weeks have painted a very different picture.
Frustration over the yen’s recent slide is growing among policymakers and in the business community, while some economists say the fall is hurting the nation’s economy more than helping it.
During a parliamentary session on April 18, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said it’s not easy to state categorically that a weak yen is good or bad, because it has both merits and demerits. However, amid ongoing economic upheaval in which surging crude oil and other commodity prices are placing a burden on companies and households, “I don’t think we can call the current declining yen’s value a good weak yen. It is rather a bad weak yen,” Suzuki said.