Tokyo

ABENOMICS, the set of policies adopted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nearly three years ago as a weapon with which to fight Japan's long economic stagnation, will face a critical test on Friday this week when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) - a key player in implementing Abenomics - holds its latest Policy Board meeting.

Two rounds of aggressive monetary easing by the BOJ have failed to put the world's third largest economy back on a sustained recovery path - it is now on the brink of its second recession in the space of a year - and markets are keyed up waiting to see whether the central bank will "go for broke" by launching a third round of easing.