Paul San

Asia Summit 2015 - The Rising Sun: Japan's Resurgence in the Asia-Pacific Region

Shinzo Abe, Kotaro Tamura, Kage, Hirano, Paul San, Yamazaki, Volker Jermitsch, Ivan

At the IGA summit, a panel of experts from Blackstone, KKR, Standard & Poor's, and Japan's Ministry of Finance analyzed the nation's transition from decades of deflation to cautious optimism driven by Abenomics and improved corporate balance sheets. While the panel highlighted record corporate retained earnings and a tight labor market as catalysts for higher wages and global expansion, they cautioned that demographic decline and premature fiscal consolidation, such as consumption tax hikes, threaten to stifle the government's 3% nominal GDP growth target. Experts concluded that Japan's future economic stability relies on successfully mobilizing corporate capital, implementing incremental deregulation through the "third arrow," and expanding tourism and labor immigration to offset a shrinking workforce.