INTERVIEW: World Bank Sees Japan Growth Slowing in 2025

By Adriana Reinecke

Washington, June 11 (Jiji Press)--Japan's growth is slowing this year due to the weakness in both domestic and external demand amid concerns over food price spikes and the U.S. high tariff policy, a senior World Bank economist observes.

"Obviously, food price inflation is quite high," World Bank Deputy Chief Economist Ayhan Kose said in an interview with Jiji Press in Washington on Monday, the day before the bank released its Global Economic Prospects report for June.

In the report, the international financial institution lowered its 2025 growth estimate for Japan's gross domestic product to 0.7 pct in inflation-adjusted real terms from 1.2 pct the bank forecast in its January report.

With growth decelerating, the Bank of Japan, which reduced inflation expectations for next year at its latest policy meeting last month, needs to monitor how economic activity and inflation will evolve to make future monetary policy decisions, Kose noted.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]