Japan moved to shore up its fragile economic recovery yesterday, with the central bank announcing an extra Y10,000bn ($118bn) in cheap, six-month financing and the government outlining a Y920bn package of stimulative measures.
The moves had been widely anticipated, however, and economists warned they fell far short of restoring confidence battered by slowing growth, the threat of a double-dip recession in the US and a rise in the yen.
Masaaki Shirakawa, Bank of Japan governor, returned early from a US visit to hold the hastily arranged policy board meeting that approved the new financing operation, an expansion of an existing Y20,000bn three-month scheme.