Japanese Growth Minister says Japan's fiscal situation is improving; do not expect JPY depreciation to continue

• No change in the Government's stance to respect BoJ independence.
• BoJ has been doing a good job on policy.
• Increased investment will be positive for JPY.
• Not so difficult to find JPY 5tkn for sales tax cut.

Verbal commentary of this kind from Japanese cabinet ministers sits in a long tradition of currency jawboning, and the established pattern is that it slows yen moves rather than reverses them; episodes in which official rhetoric has marked a durable turn in JPY have historically coincided with either actual intervention or a shift in the policy rate differential, not words alone. The assertion that depreciation will not continue is best read as a floor-setting signal, with the tell being whether it is followed by more senior voices or by the finance ministry ratcheting its language through the familiar escalation ladder. The reaffirmation of BoJ independence plus praise for current policy is the standard formulation governments use when they want tightening credibility without owning the decision, and it leaves the burden on the BoJ's meeting calendar and board vote splits. The more substantive item is the sales tax cut funding line: claiming the revenue is easy to find signals fiscal expansion dressed as consolidation, a combination that in past episodes has steepened the JGB curve and cut against the currency-supportive intent of the rest of the remarks. Worth watching is whether the fiscal claim survives scrutiny of the supplementary budget process and whether MoF language firms toward the phrasing that has preceded intervention in comparable episodes.