Economics

Abe Adviser Says Virus-Hit Japan Needs $45 Billion of Extra Spending

Etsuro Honda in May, 2019.Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

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By Toru Fujioka and Emi Urabe

February 28, 2020 at 3:45 AM UTC

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An adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan should compile another economic package with fresh spending of at least 5 trillion yen ($45 billion) to respond to a severe hit from the coronavirus outbreak.

“We should take it very seriously that this is terrible timing, coming right after the sales tax hike,” Etsuro Honda, one of the key architects of Abenomics, said in an interview Thursday. “The impact could be devastating in the short term.”