TOKYO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said on Monday the United States wants to strengthen the dollar by increasing the savings rate in its economy.
Fujii, speaking to lawmakers in parliament, also said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's message for Japan during a visit this week is to not focus so much on exports.
The Group of 20 finance ministers agreed over the weekend a new framework aimed at rebalancing the global economy and will present detailed economic plans for each other to check by the end of January. Part of the plan is for debt-laden countries such as the U.S. to save more and for countries with large trade surpluses such as China to export less.
"The dollar is weak, and that's why the yen and the euro are strong," Fujii said.
"The U.S. doesn't want that. They want a strong currency and they want to return to an economy with a rising savings rate."
Geithner will visit Tokyo on Nov. 10-11 before attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum finance ministers' meeting in Singapore.
One important topic during Geithner's visit to Japan and Singapore will be how to bring about sustainable growth as the global economy recovers from the worst recession in decades.
That crisis was sparked by losses on U.S. mortgage derivatives. Some economists have said one contributing factor to the global recession was that major exporters, such as Japan and China, relied on consumers overseas buying their goods, and these consumers often racked up debts to fuel their purchases.
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