TOKYO - Japan's foreign reserve assets in August fell $79.58 billion, or 6.18 percent, from the previous month to $1.21 trillion, marking the largest percentage decline on record, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
The drop was mainly due to a decline in the market value of government bonds held in the reserves amid rising interest rates, as well as a reduction resulting from foreign exchange interventions conducted between July 30 and Aug. 26, a ministry official said.
In late August, the ministry said Japan had spent a record 15.4 trillion yen ($96 billion) on dollar-selling, yen-buying interventions over that period.
The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market in coordination with the United States on July 31, U.S. Eastern Time, with the drawdown of foreign currency reserves used for interventions reflected in the August figures.
The total amount of Japanese foreign exchange interventions has already reached a record high for a single year amid the yen's depreciation.
Foreign reserve assets fell for a fourth consecutive month in August, posting the largest declines in both percentage and dollar terms since comparable data became available in April 2000.
Securities holdings contracted a record 9.5 percent to $839.56 billion.
Deposits edged dropped 4.2 percent to $155.42 billion, while gold gained 13.3 percent to $124.1 billion.
