'Mr. Yen' predicts yen will fall to 130 to dollar.

TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo

Eisuke Sakakibara, former vice finance minister for international affairs known as ''Mr. Yen'' for the influence he had in the currency market, predicted Tuesday the yen would fall as low as 130 to the U.S. dollar.

Sakakibara, now professor at Keio University, made the comment in an address to a meeting in Tokyo of the Pacific Basin Economic Forum as the dollar was trading at around 124-125 yen.

However, he said he did not expect the yen to fall to the 140-160 range, responding to a question from a South Korean  participant among the 800 people attending the three-day gathering of businesspeople from 20 economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Noting that a stable yen is imperative for steady development of the Asian economy, Sakakibara said, ''The region should cooperate with Japan and South Korea at the center to avoid Asian currency crises.''

Countries in the region were hit by financial crises in 1997-1998 when their currencies tumbled.