Grave outlook for Japan

The short-term outlook for Japan is dismal while Prime Minister Koizumi carries out damaging but necessary reforms. Lesley Lathe, fund manager at the Japanese desk at GAM, says: 'In Japan there are pretty poor economic indicators and a lot of weaknesses in the economy. The reforms of Koizumi are going to be painful for the economy.' She expects the construction industry to be hurt the most by the Koizumi reforms as it receives a lot of support from the government, which will stop when the reforms are implemented. She expects 5-10% job fallout in this sector. Nonetheless, she is incr...