AIRLINK 75.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-0.24%)
BOP 5.11 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.79%)
CNERGY 4.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-3.16%)
DFML 32.53 Increased By ▲ 2.43 (8.07%)
DGKC 90.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-0.14%)
FCCL 22.98 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.35%)
FFBL 33.57 Increased By ▲ 0.62 (1.88%)
FFL 10.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.1%)
GGL 11.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-2.56%)
HBL 114.90 Increased By ▲ 1.41 (1.24%)
HUBC 137.34 Increased By ▲ 0.83 (0.61%)
HUMNL 9.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-3.74%)
KEL 4.66 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 4.70 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.21%)
MLCF 40.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.56 (-1.36%)
OGDC 139.75 Increased By ▲ 4.95 (3.67%)
PAEL 27.65 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.14%)
PIAA 24.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.07 (-4.2%)
PIBTL 6.92 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PPL 125.30 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (0.68%)
PRL 27.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.55%)
PTC 14.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-2.41%)
SEARL 61.85 Increased By ▲ 1.65 (2.74%)
SNGP 72.98 Increased By ▲ 2.43 (3.44%)
SSGC 10.59 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.28%)
TELE 8.78 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.24%)
TPLP 11.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.42%)
TRG 66.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.06 (-1.57%)
UNITY 25.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.08%)
WTL 1.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-2.7%)
BR100 7,806 Increased By 81.8 (1.06%)
BR30 25,828 Increased By 227.1 (0.89%)
KSE100 74,531 Increased By 732.1 (0.99%)
KSE30 23,954 Increased By 330.7 (1.4%)

Japan's government will keep a close eye on looming risks to a global economic recovery as it guides policy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an interview aired by public broadcaster NHK on Sunday. Signs of slowing global demand and recent sharp rises in the yen currency have clouded the outlook for the export-reliant economy, prompting verbal warnings from Tokyo policymakers over the adverse impact of volatile market moves on growth.
"While the global economy is recovering gradually, there are various risks to the outlook," Abe said in the interview, recorded on Friday. "Japan's economic fundamentals are sound, but we'd like to guide policy with a close eye on the various risks."
Japan will also seek to mend Sino-US trade frictions by promoting global coordination as it chairs this year's meeting of the Group of 20 major economies, Abe said. "As G20 chair, Japan hopes to play a leading role to foster global cooperation ... to achieve stable, sustainable growth," he said, adding that both the United States and China must abide by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on trade.
Any further signs of weakness in Japan's economy could heighten market speculation that Abe might again delay a scheduled sales tax hike to 10 percent from 8 percent in October. The increase has been postponed twice already, after a hike to 8 percent in 2014 pushed the economy into recession.
Abe said revenues from the scheduled tax hike are key to ensuring Japan's social welfare system is sustainable, and the government would take sufficient steps to mitigate the hit to growth from the higher levy. "There's no change to our stance of raising the sales tax as scheduled, unless Japan is hit by a shock to the scale of the (collapse of) Lehman Brothers," Abe said.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.