Abenomics Receive First Criticism – From Within Japan

Goshi Hosono, leader of Japan’s biggest opposition party, challenged the government to better protect the elderly and small companies, charging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policies with ignoring the risks of monetary easing and a weakened currency.

“It’s a fact that monetary easing and a weaker yen improved the mood, but there are also side effects and risks,” Hosono said yesterday on public broadcaster NHK’s Sunday Debate program. “The government hasn’t taken sufficient care regarding the increased burden on pensioners and small business from rising import prices.”

Polls show voter support for policies that have helped drive benchmark stocks to five-year highs this year. The Topix Index closed last week 54 percent above the level of mid-November, when Abe pledged to revive growth by targeting 2 percent inflation. Japan’s economy expanded the most in a year in the first quarter as pledges for monetary easing weakened the yen and boosted shares, supporting exports and consumer spending.

Thirty-five percent of respondents in an April 23 Mainichi newspaper poll cited the economy as the most important issue in parliamentary elections scheduled next month. Abe, whose first, 12-month stint as premier ended in 2007 due to ill health, is supported by 74 percent of the electorate, according to a Yomiuri newspaper poll published April 16.

Japanese shares entered a correction last week, falling 11 percent from May 22 highs as the yen gained value. Shigeru Ishiba, secretary general of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, said yesterday the decline was an adjustment to earlier gains. The trend is for rising prices in the market and stable economic growth, he said on the Sunday Debate program.

Bloomberg

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