TOKYO, Oct 19: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Friday structural reform must proceed whether or not the economy was growing, fending off calls to ditch fiscal discipline and resort to bigger spending to boost growth.
Koizumi’s top economic advisers earlier in the day began deliberating on a supplementary budget which departs from conventional pump-priming public works spending and focuses more on labour market support and other reform-oriented areas, despite calls by many politicians for bigger fiscal stimulus.
Obviously, a growing economy is desirable, but we are pursuing reform to achieve sustained growth, Koizumi told reporters.
Plus or minus (gross domestic product growth), we will stick to our principle that there will be no growth without reform.
SHANGHAI: Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma called Friday for safety nets to give “losers” in the globalization race a second chance to compete.
The economic globalisation has reached a point where we have what is termed as mega-competition and leading companies from around the world are engaged in fierce competition everywhere, he told a two-day business conference attended by Asia-Pacific chief executives here.
But he said protectionist measures could not resolve the disparities and tensions that came with globalisation and governments must instead create safety nets to help those battered by economic competition.
Rather than trying to prevent this natural outcome, we need to put safety nets in place for the losers. Yet these safety nets should not seek to automatically put losers at parity with the winners. To do that would negate the benefits of globalisation, he said.
The important thing is that the safety nets be set up to give the losers a second and even a third chance all companies should be given an opportunity to try again and again.
Hiranuma said globalization’s other “dark sides” were that it led to vast disparities in employment and income, a deeper divide between developed and developing countries, loss of forests and the risk of foodchain contamination.
The tide of globalization is irreversible. We cannot jump the globalization ship. Rather than rejecting globalisation, we need to respond positively to it and harness it for economic growth, he said.
Those who fail to do this will be left behind in history’s dust.
He urged member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to stick to plans to lower and dismantle trade and investment barriers and deepen cooperation to cope with the negative aspects of globalization.
The APEC CEO Summit was held on the sidelines of the meeting of the APEC annual forum.
APEC trade and foreign ministers Thursday wrapped up a two-day meeting, calling for the launch of a new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks next month to reenergise the global economy.—AFP