Shoko Iwasaki looked for years for a tax-free way to pass down a lifetime of savings to her grandson. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered the 71-year-old an answer with a program now helping unlock pensioners' hoarded wealth. "I'm so grateful for this tax measure, ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cuts to local-government subsidies are like trying to "wring water from an old rag that's been squeezed dry," says Kazuya Yoshida, a 27-year municipal employee in Shijonawate, Osaka Prefecture. Abe pared payments to regional authorities by ¥392 billion, or 2.3 percent, ...
Taro Aso, son of a cement magnate and a champion of pork-barrel spending when prime minister, is Japan's sixth finance chief in three years, auguring expanded fiscal stimulus in the world's third-largest economy. Aso, 72, will also serve as deputy prime minister and financial services ...
The Bank of Japan has failed to end more than a decade of deflation by being too cautious, according to Takatoshi Ito, a former Finance Ministry official who is a contender to become the central bank's next governor. The BOJ Policy Board under Gov. Masaaki ...
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's decision to call an election in December may inhibit the government's ability to stimulate the economy even as it slides toward its third recession in four years. Compiling an extra budget soon will be "difficult" as lawmakers can't debate spending with ...
With his nation's economy contracting under disaster damage of as much as ¥25 trillion ($310 billion), Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa is signaling that his biggest worry is inflation. At stake for the student of Milton Friedman is protecting the bank's independence from financing ...
An escalation in Japan's nuclear crisis has failed to dissuade analysts from forecasting an economic rebound starting next quarter, an outlook that hinges on a recovery in business and household confidence. Gross domestic product may shrink 3 percent in April-to-June, the most since the aftermath ...
The Bank of Japan may want to consider buying foreign currency assets to help ease the yen's appreciation, economic and fiscal policy minister Banri Kaieda said. "Such purchases can be an option for the central bank over the medium to long term," Kaieda said in ...
Evidence in the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey that companies are growing more pessimistic may prompt the central bank to expand support as soon as next week for businesses grappling with the yen's advance. The BOJ is likely to increase its ¥30 trillion credit program ...
The Bank of Japan may seek next week to counter a contraction of its balance sheet caused by the monthend expiration of an emergency-credit program and persistent deflation. The BOJ's options include expanding a ¥10 trillion fund providing loans to banks, according to two central ...
