The nation's economy is likely to stop expanding this year and into next with the Sino-U.S. trade war and a planned sales tax hike expected to crimp activity, a Reuters poll of Japanese companies found, with most calling for fresh stimulus to prop up growth.
The gloomy outlook suggests that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reflationary policy mix, known as Abenomics, is sputtering.
"A combination of the U.S.-China trade friction and the tax hike in October will almost certainly tip Japan into recession," an electric machinery-maker wrote in the monthly survey.