The U.S. government has made a "major change" in its foreign-exchange policy that will keep the greenback inside the ¥100 to ¥110 range, Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's former top currency-policy official, said Monday.

"It was a major change in U.S. foreign-exchange policy," Sakakibara said in an interview in Tokyo. "There has been a shift of their position because of inflation. They are now talking about intervention."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said this month he would "never take intervention off the table," and Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said he is "attentive" to the dollar's slump.