Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar 0609
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Contact
For event inquiries:
International Monetary Fund
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Email: OAPEconomicSeminar@IMF.org
Seminar overview
- Event: Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar, Japan - Economic Outlook and Policy Priorities.
- Hosts: IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance Japan.
- Reference: Japan: 2022 Article IV Staff Report.
- Participation: 110 people from 15 countries from Asia and beyond participated in the virtual seminar.
Macroeconomic assessment and outlook for Japan
- Pre-COVID-19 policies under “Abenomics”:
- Helped ease financial conditions.
- Helped exit deflation.
- Helped raise labor market participation.
- Fell short on the deep reforms needed to raise productivity and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.
- Current recovery:
- The Japanese economy is recovering from the pandemic amid strong policy support that has helped to mitigate the downturn.
- Source of analysis:
- Discussion drew on the recent IMF-Japan Article IV consultations and analytical work.
Policy priorities discussed
- Emphasis on deep reforms to:
- Raise productivity.
- Achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.
- Role of continued policy support in:
- Supporting the recovery from the pandemic.
- Mitigating economic downturn effects.
Speakers and their roles
- Ranil Salgado:
- Position: Assistant Director in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department (APD) and the IMF’s mission chief to Japan.
- Supervises work on: Maldives, Samoa, and Tonga.
- Past roles in APD: Mission chief to India, the Marshall Islands, Myanmar, and Nepal; chief of the Regional Studies Division; IMF Resident Representative in Singapore.
- IMF tenure: Over 25 years, including work in the Western Hemisphere; Research; and Strategy, Policy, and Review Departments.
- Prior experience: Strategy management consulting firm; teaching and research assistant positions at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
- Education: University of Pennsylvania (masters & PhD in economics); Harvard University (undergraduate in chemistry); Cambridge University (masters in biochemistry).
- Role at seminar: Presented on Japan’s economic outlook and policy priorities.
- Tokuo Iwaisako:
- Position: Professor at Institute of Economic Research (IER), Hitotsubashi University.
- Teaching: Finance and macroeconomics at Hitotsubashi's Department of Economics and Business School.
- April 2022 appointment: Director of the Center for Intergenerational Studies at IER.
- Past positions: President of Nippon Finance Association (2018-2020); Principal Economist at the Institute of Policy Research, Ministry of Finance, Japan (April 2009 to March 2011).
- Education: Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1997; B.A. from Hitotsubashi University in 1990.
- Role at seminar: Discussion lead and presenter.
- Moderators/hosts at opening:
- Chikahisa Sumi, Director, IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
- Hironori Kawauchi, Executive Vice President, Policy Research Institute (PRI), Ministry of Finance Japan.
Agenda and schedule (times listed as provided)
- 10:00-10:10:
- Introduction; Chikahisa Sumi, Director, IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific; Hironori Kawauchi, Executive Vice President, Policy Research Institute (PRI), Ministry of Finance Japan;
- 10:10-10:50:
- Presentation on Japan’s economic outlook and policy priorities; Ranil Salgado, Assistant Director, Asia and Pacific Department, IMF; Presentation;
- 10:50-11:00:
- Discussion; Tokuo Iwaisako, Professor, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University; Presentation;
- 11:00-11:25:
- Q&A session
- 11:25-11:30:
- Closing & post-event survey
Contact for press inquiries
- Press Officer: Yuko Maeda
- Email: OAPMedia@IMF.org
Content in this bundle
- IMF Seminar on Japan’s economic outlook and policy priorities, June 9 2022
- IMF Seminar on Japan — Comment by Tokuo Iwaisako