Counting the Cost - A shot in the arm for Japan's economy?
- 11 years ago
Can one man, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, revitalise the Japanese economy?
It is rare for the leader of a nation to have a set of economic policies named after him. But Shinzo Abe is one rare example.
This week, Counting the Cost looks at what is being called 'Abenomics', as hope gives way to volatility.
Japan desperately needed to end almost two decades of deflation, weak domestic demand and another recession late last year. So Shinzo Abe produced what he calls "three arrows" to take on the challenge: fiscal, structural and monetary.
So far, there has been a commitment of around $117bn to infrastructure, health and education; an inflation target set at two percent by the Bank of Japan; and, in the footsteps of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, money printing, or "quantitative easing" as it is officially called - a massive $1.4tn programme to flood the markets with money.
Now, all said and done, that will actually increase Japan's debt, remembering that it is already the most indebted nation in the world with levels of 230 percent of GDP.
So is this the right track? Counting the Cost examines the issue, and speaks to Dr Seijiro Takeshita, the managing director of Mizuho International.
It is rare for the leader of a nation to have a set of economic policies named after him. But Shinzo Abe is one rare example.
This week, Counting the Cost looks at what is being called 'Abenomics', as hope gives way to volatility.
Japan desperately needed to end almost two decades of deflation, weak domestic demand and another recession late last year. So Shinzo Abe produced what he calls "three arrows" to take on the challenge: fiscal, structural and monetary.
So far, there has been a commitment of around $117bn to infrastructure, health and education; an inflation target set at two percent by the Bank of Japan; and, in the footsteps of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, money printing, or "quantitative easing" as it is officially called - a massive $1.4tn programme to flood the markets with money.
Now, all said and done, that will actually increase Japan's debt, remembering that it is already the most indebted nation in the world with levels of 230 percent of GDP.
So is this the right track? Counting the Cost examines the issue, and speaks to Dr Seijiro Takeshita, the managing director of Mizuho International.