The U.S. dollar being the dominant global reserve currency has been on a slow long-term downward trend, interrupted by upticks — and now we had an uptick, when the dollar gained share, Wolf Street reported. The share of the USD as global reserve currency rose to 59.0% in the first quarter of 2023, after having dropped to 58.6% in Q4, which had been the dollar’s lowest share since 1994, according to the IMF’s recent COFER data. The U.S.
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Some 27 percent of nursing homes and related service facilities in Japan may go bankrupt or shut down operations in a few years if soaring prices and utility costs continue to put pressure on them, according to a survey by nursing care groups, Kyodo News reported. "Nursing care facilities are not able to pass along cost increases to consumers in the same way as other companies, and this has a significant impact on their business," said an official of Minkaikyo, an association of nursing care providers.
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Japan's factory activity contracted in June after expanding for the first time in 7 months in May, a private survey showed on Monday, dragged down by weak orders for cyclical goods amid a global economic slowdown, Reuters reported. The final au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index was at 49.8, returning below the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from shrinkage, after May's 50.6 reading. Output and new orders, the subindexes that constitute the majority of the headline index, fell back to contraction, ending a brief rebound buoyed by improved business confidence.
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Bank of Japan (BOJ) Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino said recent price rises were stronger than previously projected and inflation expectations were moving up, a sign the economy is getting closer to achieving the bank's 2% inflation target, Reuters reported. While stressing the need to keep ultra-loose monetary policy for now, Himino said the economy was beginning to see a mix of cost-push inflation and price gains driven by domestic demand. "The pass-through of rising imported goods prices is broadening with a lag.
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Japan’s crypto exchanges are pushing for a relaxation of curbs on margin trading, unbowed by last year’s global digital-asset market crash, Bloomberg News reported. Many people in the industry want permitted leverage for retail investors of four to 10 times whereas currently customers can at most double exposure via borrowing, according to the Japan Virtual & Crypto Assets Exchange Association.
Japan's wholesale inflation slowed for a fifth consecutive month in May because of sliding fuel and commodity prices, data showed on Monday, a sign cost-push pressure that has driven up consumer inflation may be subsiding, Reuters reported. The data underscores the central bank's view that consumer inflation will slow in coming months as global commodity prices slide from last year's peak levels.
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Japan’s parliament on Tuesday enacted a set of bills to digitalize civil procedures that do not involve lawsuits, such as divorce mediation and bankruptcy applications, the Japan Times reported. The House of Representatives passed the bills by a majority vote at the day’s plenary meeting, with support mainly from the ruling bloc. The bills were approved by the the Upper House earlier. The legislation will allow people to submit necessary applications online, instead of the current system of such documents being brought or mailed to courts.
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government on Tuesday unveiled an action plan on his "new capitalism" programme of driving growth and wealth distribution through wage hikes, signalling his commitment to shift the economy into a higher gear, Reuters reported. Kishida's economic strategy will focus on investment in human resources, science and technology, innovation and start-ups, as well as green and digital transformation, as key driver of growth. The action plan and separate mid-year economic policy framework are expected to be approved by Kishida's cabinet later this month.
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Japan’s unemployment rate fell for the first time in three months, potentially feeding into higher wages and providing support for the Bank of Japan’s sustainable inflation goal down the line, Bloomberg News reported. The jobless rate dropped to 2.6% in April, as the number of those without jobs declined by 150,000 from the previous month, the ministry of internal affairs reported Tuesday. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to decline to 2.7%.
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Lawmakers in Japan have decided to enforce stricter Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures to trace cryptocurrency transactions from June 1, CoinTelegraph reported. On May 23, the Japanese parliament made the decision to roll out tougher AML procedures from next month, according to a report the same day from local media outlet Kyodo News. The move aims to bring Japan’s legal framework in line with global crypto regulations. Lawmakers revised the AML legislation in December after it was deemed insufficient by the international financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).