Under the Volcano: Japan’s Mounting Sovereign Debt

Corporate Luncheon
12 – 2 pm

Read the Event Summary.

Are more downgrades in store for Japan? All three major rating agencies–Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch–have cut Japan’s sovereign debt rating in the last two weeks. Moody’s outlook for Japan remains negative. Economists have likened Japan’s growing government debt–currently at 130 percent of GDP and rising–to a volcano waiting to erupt. With spending pressures from unemployment programs, structural reforms and Japan’s new role in the war on terrorism mounting, how long can Japan keep the “volcano” from exploding? And what are the consequences for the U.S. economy, already in recession, as well as for Asia and the rest of the world?

A panel of experts, including Vincent Truglia, Managing Director and Co-head of Sovereign Rating, Moody’s Investors Service; John H. Makin, Principal, Caxton Associates, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; and Etsuro Honda, Deputy Consul General and Chief Representative, Ministry of Finance, discuss these and other key issues.

Presider
John Bussey, Foreign Editor, Wall Street Journal