Two years on, Abenomics hasn't delivered

LAST week's latest quarterly Tankan survey by the Bank of Japan of business conditions in the world's third largest economy was not exactly upbeat in tone or content. In fact "grim" was the word used by the English-language Japan Times in its front lead story on the report.

What can be ailing the nation that, two years after Abenomics was launched by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and successive shots of monetary stimulus were administered by the Bank of Japan (BOJ), growth and inflation remain so elusive?

Not that output has slumped or deflation returned (yet) but Japan appears to be slipping back inexorably towards a cycle of low consumption, low investment and modest economic growth, while consumer price inflation reverted to zero in February.