TOKYO: The head of a major Japanese business lobby said on Wednesday that 100 yen to the dollar was a “sustainable” exchange rate in the longer term, expressing discontent with the yen’s recent weakening, the Mainichi newspaper reported.

Japan’s export-heavy economy has traditionally welcomed a softer yen but the dollar’s recent sharp rise to around 124 yen has raised alarm by making import costs more expensive. At the beginning of the year, the dollar fetched around 115 yen.

“In the mid- to long term, 100 yen to the dollar is a sustainable level,” the Mainichi quoted Keizai Doyukai chair Kengo Sakurada as telling reporters. He added that he believed the yen had weakened to mirror Japan’s longer-term economic fundamentals.

Analysts have attributed the yen’s recent decline to the Bank of Japan’s ultra-loose monetary policy even as other major central banks turn hawkish.

Sakurada had said last week that current yen levels were hurting domestic customer-oriented companies and could “hardly be seen as appropriate”.