Japan and the yen

At this stage, it remains impossible to really judge confidently the scale of the damage from the earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that followed.

The Japanese Prime Minister described the situation as the biggest challenge facing the nation since WW2. Inevitably there are now questions being raised about the impact on the Japanese economy. Japan is a nation with gross debt to GDP close to 220%. This is nearly double Greece’s debt to GDP. There have been many times in recent years where foreign experts have been bewildered by the timidity of the Bank of Japan, given the challenges the country faces. Those challenges have now been ramped up one more notch, and the last thing Japan needs is even further strengthening of the yen. ...