THE efficacy of Abenomics, the reform programme of Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is a matter of vigorous debate. There have been periods of decent economic growth and higher inflation since Mr Abe became prime minister in 2012, but they have not lasted. Japanese GDP is forecast to rise by only 0.8% this year and headline inflation is just 0.6% (the core rate is even lower, at 0.3%).
Where Abenomics has clearly made a difference is in the value of the yen. At the end of 2012 it was trading at ¥87 to the dollar; this week, it fell below ¥125, a decline of more than 30% in 30 months (see chart 1). That is down to the Bank of Japan’s massive programme of quantitative easing (QE), which involves creating new yen to buy assets; the Bank is printing ¥80 trillion ($644 billion) a year.
A weaker yen creates two challenges for the rest of the world. First, it makes Japanese exporters more competitive and thus weakens the position of rival exporting nations. That is happening at an especially inconvenient time. Over the past three months, all the main emerging markets bar China and Hong Kong have seen weaker exports than...
from The Economist: Finance and economics http://ift.tt/1QteDTY
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