A Japanese panel chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to drop the economic growth target of 1.7 percent for this year and warn of near-zero growth for up to three years, a report said yesterday.
The government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy plans to announce the new forecast when it releases reform policy guidelines in late June, the Asahi Shimbun said. It foresees the world's second largest economy growing only 0.5 percent for two-to-three years from April 2001.
The panel would then drop the official growth target of 1.7 percent for the current financial year to March 2002, it said.
While stopping short of mentioning a specific figure, Heizo Takenaka, state minister for economic and fiscal policy, yesterday conceded the panel saw near-term growth "will be far below Japan's potential rate of growth."
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