The Guardian (August 9)
“The era of low interest rates will last for at least another 20 years, despite gently rising official borrowing costs in the coming years, one of the Bank of England’s leading policymakers has forecast.” Outgoing monetary policy committee (MPC) member Ian McCafferty said that “structural changes in the global economy meant UK borrowers and savers should get used to interest rates being “significantly” below the 5% average in the 10 years leading up to the financial crisis.”
Tags: BOE, Borrowing, Costs, Era, Financial Crisis, Global economy, Interest rates, Low, MPC, Structural changes, UK
Institutional Investor (September Issue)
“While Abe may have won the first couple of rounds, he will need to win plenty more before he can declare final victor in his high-stakes bid to turn around Japan, Inc…. For one, unless structural changes are made, demographics are likely to prove disastrous to Japan’s economy. For another, Japan’s nominal GDP is still at 2008 levels, meaning that it has stood still for the past five years. Finally, with public debt now exceeding 1,000 trillion yen ($10.2 trillion), time may be running out for Japan to sort out its problems.”
Tags: Abe, Debt, Demographics, Economy, GDP, Japan, Structural changes
Financial Times (June 9)
“Shinzo Abe’s gamble to revive Japan’s economic fortunes faces its biggest test so far.” Moving on to his “third arrow” of fiscal/regulatory reform to stimulate the market is essential, but “politically, this is a tall order. Structural changes are bound to affect powerful insiders.”
Tags: Fiscal, Insiders, Japan, Market, Regulatory reform, Shinzo Abe, Structural changes