Japan needs years to return to pre-Covid levels

Tough times: A man walks past an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo. Japan’s economy will likely shrink 5.3% in the current fiscal year ending in March, a poll of 27 analysts showed, revised up from a 5.6% contraction projected in November. — Bloomberg

TOKYO: Japan’s economy will suffer a smaller contraction this year than initially forecast but won’t return to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels until at least early 2022, economists in a Reuters poll said.

Analysts polled were split on the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) next policy move even as the economy continues to suffer from the pandemic’s fallout, underscoring a widening view that the central bank may have exhausted its ammunition to prop up growth.