FILE PHOTO: Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services of Japan, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
December 26, 2017
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday the country’s economy was making “small but steady progress” in beating deflation.
Japan suffered from deflation because past steps taken by the government and the central bank had been inappropriate, Aso told a regular news conference after a cabinet meeting.
Monetary easing steps taken to beat deflation resulted in a weaker yen, he added.
(Reporting by Takashi Umekawa; Writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Minami Funakoshi)
