Bessent Urges BOJ to Hike Rates, Citing $1 Billion Yen Bet and End of Abenomics
Updated
Updated · The Japan Times · Sep 7
Bessent Urges BOJ to Hike Rates, Citing $1 Billion Yen Bet and End of Abenomics
3 articles · Updated · The Japan Times · Sep 7
Summary
Scott Bessent publicly pressed the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates, saying Japan has probably reached the end of Abenomics and should “do the right thing.”
That argument rests on a shift from the Shinzo Abe era, when the government and BOJ moved in lockstep and ultraeasy policy helped define Japan’s economic message.
Bessent has direct history with that regime: as a hedge fund investor, he made about $1 billion shorting the yen after reading the policy signal in late 2012.
His remarks add outside pressure on BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda as Japan weighs how far to move away from the long-running playbook that weakened the yen and kept rates low.