The Japanese economy

Even if United States support for the yen vouchsafed global stock markets at least a temporary reprieve last week, there does not seem to be excessive pessimism underlying the decision. The plunging shares early last week should be viewed with more alarm than the "Tequila Crisis" of 1994/1995 in Mexico.

If the Japanese economy contracted by an annual rate of 5.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, there is every prospect of the real economy eventually being hit here. The most worrying aspects of this crisis are that it is in many ways inevitable and that it feeds on several countries other than Japan.

-- The Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina