TOKYO, Feb 14: Japan's bid to revive its once-soaring economy is on the ropes as an equity market bloodbath and resurgent yen threaten to knock Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's growth plan to the canvas.
Abe met with his hand-picked central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda for an emergency meeting Friday amid huge volatility on global markets, which is wiping out the gains Abenomics has achieved since the premier swept to power in late 2012.
All eyes will be on Japan's fourth-quarter GDP data on Monday with many economists expecting a contraction of about 0.7 per cent in the world's number three economy.
That could deal a near fatal blow to Abe's easy money policies, which he hailed as the answer to beating the deflation blamed for holding back growth in the fast-ageing nation, analysts warned.
"The risk is not that Japan faces an imminent financial crisis or that the Abe administration could collapse, but rather that the government's economic programme simply fails to achieve its goals," said Tobias Harris, political risk analyst at consultancy Teneo.
Abe's plan -- big government spending, central bank monetary easing and reforms to the highly regulated economy -- appeared to bear fruit at first.    ?AFP