The Japanese Yen has been weakening consistently for four years, with the trend exacerbated by a significant interest-rate gap between Japan and the U.S. Since December 2019, the Yen has been the weakest currency in real effective terms, except for the Egyptian Pound, while the Argentinian Peso has been the strongest. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has intervened to defend its exchange rate, benefiting tourism and exports but increasing import costs and hurting GDP. BoJ Governor Ueda stated that the bank has no plans to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with a negative rate and is prepared to respond to significant yield increases. Ueda also emphasized that market forces should determine long-term yields and that monetary policy will be adjusted if inflation moves as expected. BoJ Deputy Governor Himino highlighted that firms would have more flexibility in setting prices if prices and wages rise moderately together and stressed the importance of asset price movements as a transmission channel of monetary policy. Himino also mentioned that policymakers need to be vigilant about the impact of prolonged easy monetary policy on productivity and potential growth. Himino added that FX rates have various impacts on economic activity and that the BoJ is guiding monetary policy to achieve underlying inflation around 2%.