Koizumi fails to keep reform promise

By Les Jones, head of global markets at Old Mutual Asset Managers During his visit to Japan in mid-February, US president Bush exhibited the kind of plain speaking for which he is renowned. It was therefore unfortunate that the highlight of the trip was Bush's failure to differentiate between deflation and devaluation, although his words of praise for the Prime Minister will hopefully prove to be of greater historical significance. Whether his description of Koizumi as a great reformer was borne out of misguided research, political flattery or a desire to embarrass the hitherto tor...