Credit rating firm Standard & Poor's (S&P) warned yesterday that Japan-ese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government may struggle to implement the fiscal reforms needed to sustain the vibrant recovery of the world's second-largest economy.
The temptation to raise government spending, a failure to tackle ballooning public debt, or a lack of will to push through unpopular but necessary policies could undermine the economy and possibly influence Japan's debt ratings, S&P said.
But it did not say it was considering lowering Japan's long-term sovereign debt of AA-, S&P's fourth-best rating, or its short-term credit rating of A1+, the top rating.
"To what extent the new government can stick to the principles of public sector reform will have a major bearing on the direction of the sovereign rating on Japan," the agency said in a release issued after Abe was elected prime minister by parliament on Tuesday.
Combined with a possible slowdown in overseas markets, especially the US, "the long expansion phase that Japan has enjoyed, soon to be the longest in postwar history, could be coming to an end," S&P's Ratings Services warned.
The appraisal doubted Abe's ability to push through unpopular policies ahead of a critical upper house election next July and questioned Cabinet picks as political appointees rather than hardcore reformers.
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