Monday 12 July 2010

JAPANESE POLITICS

BBCPOLL BLOW RAISES JAPANESE ECONOMY FEARS

Roland Buerk

BBC News, July 12, 2010

Naoto Kan has been Japan's prime minister since only last month, but already he has been dealt a stinging rebuke by the electorate.

His Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and its tiny coalition ally lost their majority in the upper house of parliament.

Japan has already suffered two decades of economic stagnation; now it faces political stagnation too unless Mr Kan can persuade small parties to help him pass laws.

Worse, this election may well have put paid, for now, to any thoughts of tackling Japan's massive public debt.

It is already nearly twice the size of the economy's annual output, and growing.

This year the government expects to borrow around as much as it raises from taxes.

The prime minister had argued that without action the country faced a Greece-style meltdown and he suggested doubling sales tax to 10%.

During the latter stages of the campaign Mr Kan rowed back, saying any tax increase would not come for several years.

It may be that it was the appearance of dithering and weak leadership that turned voters against the prime minister.

But the message being digested by Japan's politicians is that talking about austerity is poison at the ballot box.

(...) [artículo aquí]

No comments: