Japan’s finance minister has urged the nation’s significant pension funds, including the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), to increase their investments in domestic assets. This call comes as the yen has recently hit near four-decade lows. In her remarks, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama expressed the intention to implement policies that encourage households and pension funds to invest more in Japanese financial assets.
The GPIF, one of the largest pension funds globally, manages approximately ¥293.6 trillion ($1.81 trillion) in assets. Katayama’s comments caught the market by surprise, resulting in a strengthening of the yen and a decline in bond yields, as both had faced considerable pressure prior to her announcement.
