The International Monetary Fund said Thursday the coronavirus pandemic is unlikely to have "significant scarring effects" on Japan due to substantial fiscal and monetary support, but the world's third-largest economy needs to come up with post-pandemic policies to ensure sustainable growth as its population shrinks.
The IMF also said in an assessment of Japan's economic developments and policies that there is still "room" to raise revenues such as through consumption tax rate hikes, with the country's tax revenues as a percentage of gross domestic product relatively low among the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
The Washington-based institution holds regular consultations with member countries, usually annually. The pandemic, however, has disrupted the schedule, making the latest report on Japan the first since February 2020.