Comments at source are very enlightening.
What can Narendra Modi learn from Shinzo Abe about bringing growth and prosperity to his country?
Japan’s economy has not risen much out of its perennial doldrums during Shinzo Abe’s year-and-a-half premiership. However, during this year’s first quarter, Japan’s GDP exploded by 5.9%. Which sounds wonderful, except that the rise was attributed to the Japanese government’s decision to raise the country’s sales tax, effective AFTER the first quarter, in April — which led Japanese consumers to go on massive buying sprees during the first quarter to avoid the higher tax.
Now economists predict a negative GDP for Japan during the second quarter, as depleted consumers stay home and retail sales decline. And with its permanently increased national sales tax, will Japan’s retail sales ever return to their pre-tax-increase levels?
If Narendra Modi ever gets desperate for a quarterly rise in GDP, he’ll now know what to do for the short term at the expense of India’s longer-term economy, thanks to his friend Shinzo Abe. Let’s hope, for India’s sake, that Mr. Modi finds some better friends.
Hilarious, hasn’t Abe been horrible on economics?