politics

IMF warns Japan must avoid over-reliance on weak yen

14 Comments
By Leika Kihara

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

14 Comments
Login to comment

This statement clearly comes from the policy arm of the IMF, which struts around the world "advising" countries on how to "operate" their economies. The advice is generally followed a couple years later by a statement issued by the research arm of the IMF that says "We have determined that what country X is doing is crazy and it is not working". A completely dysfunctional organization, and you can expect similar behavior regarding Japan.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

IMF advice! Yeah, let's ruin another economy.

http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/05/imf-gave-richer-countries-wrong-austerity-advice-after-crisis.html

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The IMF listens to their economists. And there are very few respected economists who have any real world business experience.

Yet, they are right that a weak yen by itself is not nearly enough to move the economy forward. It will help the government pay out all those pensions though.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Great. An always tan numerologist is telling Japan they can ONLY print money at a rate that's acceptable to the International Money Cartel.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Well duh. Over-reliance on ANYTHING is bad.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well, as someone who gets paid his salary in yen, I can only concur.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I don't think opening up the agricultural sections help Japan to get back on its track. Instead, it'd ruin the section and Japanese economy might plummet further.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Most of my income is in dollars so I am hoping that the totally inept japanese government will flood the market with yen printing and get the exchange rate down to 140 or 150 very soon. Happy days for all!

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The IMF urged Japan to launch a new round of reforms to lift labor supply and open up its agricultural and service sectors.

So the IMFs idea for growth is structural reforms that will basically open certain sectors to more global competition and pressure to reduce wages and thus demand. More of the same spiral down sermon the IMF has been preaching for years. Even if it leads to growth, it's the type that only benefits the top 1%.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Protecting the Japanese agriculture sector has led to the average age of farmers exceeding 66, and there is no butter in this country while dairy prices in other parts of the world collapse due to over supply.

The IMF have it wrong in some areas, but in others they are spot on. Forget the messenger, think about the messages.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I have a couple of hundred thousand in dollars I want to buy yen with, but waiting for 150 to the dollar. IMF is tring to mess with me. Please stop. You are a useless organization.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@cevin7 sorry a sector that makes up less than 1% of the economy, opening up this sector so the much larger export sector can enjoy tarriff free trade with other TPP countries will be more benificial than keeping things the same they are now. JA is bascially a welfare industry anyways with the vast majority of those set to retire within the next 5 yrs. the 5trillion yen that is flushed down the toilet on this sector would be much better spent on welfare, pensions, healthcare. sorry JA time is up the had it gifted to them for many decades and plenty of time to change there ways, now its time to use the that money where its needed the most!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Any country that heeds IMF advice get's everything they deserve. The IMF always promote ( or force on countries where they can) a steady diet of austerity for the less well off to pay the bills created by the rich. Name one country that took IMF advice and thrived. Professional doomsayers.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Indeed, so much money printing to weaken the Yen has served some purpose like helping the exporters. However, the consumers and households are hammered by reduced purchasing power from higher import prices, higher taxes, higher costs with little increase in wages. BOJ should not print more and cause further hardship to the citizens, who are the vast majority, favoring the small group of exporters. Time for the government to do the 3rd arrow earnestly and stop business as usual wasteful spending.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites