Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Monetary policy really needs to tighten in Japan
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 12/11/2024
» Last month, returning to Japan for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, I was struck by how significantly prices had increased. In February 2020, a simple lunch in downtown Tokyo cost about JP¥1,000, then the equivalent of about $10 (324 baht); today, it costs more like JP¥2,000. To some extent, this mirrors the experience in the US, where, even as inflation moderates, prices remain well above their pre-pandemic levels. The difference is that Japan has also experienced a sharp currency depreciation, which benefits foreign visitors: that JP¥2,000 bill translated to just $13.
The lasting legacy of Abenomics
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 31/05/2024
» After the 1985 Plaza Accord pushed the yen's exchange rate sharply upwards, Japan's economy suffered a severe slowdown that proved mightily difficult to reverse. In fact, the only prime minister to oversee a period of consistent growth and high employment in the past three decades was Shinzo Abe, during his second term, which began in 2012.
Japan's giant of central banking
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 16/05/2023
» Haruhiko Kuroda's ten-year tenure at the helm of the Bank of Japan was the most consequential in the central bank's history. Following his departure last month, it is worth reflecting on his record.
Down goes the yen, as Japan draws inflation
Oped, Takatoshi Ito, Published on 05/11/2022
» On Sept 22, Japan's government purchased yen on the foreign-exchange market for the first time since 1998. The finance ministry was attempting to stem the yen's rapid slide, and for a while, the US$20 billion intervention seemed to be working: the yen's value rose from nearly ¥146 (755 baht) per US dollar to slightly less than ¥141. But not long after the intervention ended, the yen began to backslide. The dollar-yen rate remained below ¥146, the intervention point, for almost three weeks, before falling to ¥150 on Oct 20.
The unmatched legacy left by Shinzo Abe
Oped, Takatoshi Ito, Published on 15/07/2022
» The assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is as sad as it is shocking. For Japanese of my generation, the tragedy calls to mind US President John F Kennedy's assassination in 1963 and the attempted assassination of Abe's grandfather, Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who was stabbed in 1960 after his government overcame parliamentary resistance to secure passage of the US-Japan Security Treaty.
Abe's death may give Japan scope to curb stimulus
Oped, Leika Kihara, Published on 14/07/2022
» The death of Shinzo Abe, namesake of Japan's "Abenomics" policy, makes any immediate challenge to his legacy highly unlikely but could eventually allow Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to phase out Abe's government spending and monetary stimulus.