Japan getting into trouble economically: Pundit
Press TV has conducted an interview with Michael Penn, a journalist and political commentator in Tokyo, about Japan’s economy contracting in the second quarter of the year as exports slumped and consumers cut back on spending.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Talk to us more about the contraction of the Japanese economy.
Penn: Well yes, as you say the figures have come out and as some economists have predicted the economy has contracted. This is very bad news for the Abe administration’s Abenomics policy. Earlier there were problems with economic growth that were attributed to rise in the consumption tax but clearly that is not what is affecting the issue now. So the Abenomics policies have not found the formula to higher growth, I would say.
Press TV: What about a road to recovery?
Penn: Well many people think that what’s new is some kind of structural reforms which could, well in the short-term they might inhibit growth, in the longer-term they might help it, but there has not been a very dramatic effort in that field by the Abe administration so far and that may be the root of the problem.
Press TV: And by what I have learned the weak figures could spur calls for an economic stimulus package toward the end of the year. Spell that out for us as well.
Penn: Well actually the Bank of Japan has been doing just enormous stimulus packages one after another since Abe came into power and although yes, there may be political pressure to do so, Japan is spending such an enormous amount of money trying to stimulate its economy without getting very good results, that we look at the debt issue and other things, Japan is getting into some trouble economically.
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