Private-sector members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Thursday called for potential stimulus measures to be studied to address downside risks to the global economy.
The government "needs to flexibly respond if judged necessary" after Japan's gross domestic product turned "weak" in the October-December quarter as emerging markets slowed and oil prices slid, the members of the key government panel said.
The proposal made by the council's academic and business members came after government data showed the economy shrank at an annualized real 1.4 percent pace in the final quarter of 2015, following an expansion the previous quarter. The contraction was blamed on weak consumer spending amid an unusually warm winter and sluggish exports.