In the case of Japan, the ageing population, as discussed throughout this presentation, has contributed to the long-term declining trend in economic growth and mild deflation. To overcome mild deflation, we need to raise economic growth expectations by enhancing productivity growth of the working-age population while increasing the labor participation rates for women and elderly people.
However, it may be said that implementation of the necessary structural reforms for boosting growth and productivity has been sluggish – as evident in charts 4 [1]–[4] – and the shift in the economic and industrial structure has been limited. Issues related to mounting government debt and social security reforms have also generated uncertainty over the future economic outlook.