Longer-term Abenomics targets recede further out of reach

Tokyo

TARGETS set by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe under his Abenomics policies for economic growth and inflation slipped further on Tuesday when the Japanese Cabinet Office said the goal of achieving nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of 600 trillion yen (S$7.8 trillion) by fiscal 2020 could not be achieved, and that fiscal consolidation goals would also be set back.

The announcement came a week after the Cabinet Office cut its growth and inflation forecasts dramatically. It will raise pressure on both the government and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to announce new fiscal and monetary stimulus soon, as the world's third-largest economy flirts with renewed deflation, analysts said.