TOKYO -- Japan needs bolder income policies such as penalizing profitable companies that do not increase wages, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday after concluding its annual economic assessment of the country.
Despite initial success, progress under Abenomics, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trademark economic policies, has stalled in recent months. The inflation rate has dropped to negative territory again, while economic growth has remained anemic.The IMF now expects Japan's economy to grow by about 0.5 percent in 2016, before slowing to 0.3 percent in 2017, with potential growth sliding to close to zero by 2030, due to the declining demographic.
