--Japan MOF Kuroda: Euro has room to recover against dlr, yen
--Japan MOF Kuroda says forex unlikely major G7 topic
--Japan MOF Kuroda says BOJ's ODR cut good for economy
--MOF Kuroda says Japan not in deflationary spiral
--Japan MOF Kuroda says monetary policy only fix for deflation
--Japan MOF Kuroda says no reason to downgrade GDP forecast
--Japan MOF Kuroda says no need for great pessimism on US econ
By Stephen Cannon, BridgeNews
Tokyo--Feb. 13--Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Haruhiko Kuroda told BridgeNews Tuesday he sees deflationary pressures as a definite minus for Japan's economy. Kuroda stressed, however, "It's a mistake to believe that the economy is in a deflationary spiral." Kuroda also said there's no need for "excessive graveness" on the outlook for the U.S. economy, adding he expects U.S. growth to rebound to somewhere over 3% in the second half of 2001.
* * * "I think that in the first half of 2000, the U.S. economy will grow at a very low level, but in the second half it will rebound to around 3% and overall growth around 2.0-2.5%. But compared to 5% growth last year, 2% seems like a sudden downward slope. I understand people being concerned by this," Kuroda told BridgeNews in an exclusive interview.
Kuroda explained that excessive concern is unnecessary because the U.S. has a lot of room to maneuver fiscal and monetary policy. More