By IANS,
New Delhi : Noted economist Heizo Takenaka, who also serves as economic advisor to Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe, is slated to deliver a lecture in Mumbai March 25, organised by the think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Takenaka has been the principal advisor to the Japanese premier since his re-election in December 2012 in drafting a strong fiscal and monetary stimulus package – nicknamed “Abenomics” – to revive the economy and end nearly 20 years of stagflation.
Economic and financial analysts around the world have been waiting to see if Abenomics will finally end Japan’s long winter of slow growth and enable it to recover its place as the world’s second largest economy — a slot it lost to China two years ago.
Takenaka, slated to speak on “Abenonmics” at the Trident in Mumbai, has held several ministerial posts, including those of economics and financial services minister, in the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi between 2001 and 2005.
He is credited with helping restore confidence in Japan’s banking system by demanding that the country wrote off bad loans. Although he left politics to resume as professor of economics at Keio University, Takenaka has been a key advisor to Shinzo Abe.
Speakers at IISS-Oberoi Lectures have included Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank; Tharman Shanmugaratnam, deputy prime minister of Singapore; Klaus Regling, chief executive of European Financial Stability Facility; Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime minister; and Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organisation.