Domestic Demand-Led Growth Not Coming Soon: Gyohten

Tokyo, Nov. 4 (Jiji Press)--Toyoo Gyohten, a special adviser to the Ministry of Finance on currency affairs, says Japan's export-oriented economic structure will not change in the near future to one led by domestic demand.

In a recent interview with Jiji Press, Gyohten, who is also
president of the Institute for International Monetary Affairs, made the
remark referring to the Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama administration's
policy target of a more domestic demand-led economy.
In Japan's case, declines in exports shrink its trade surplus and
bring about a fall in its growth rate, Gyohten said.
He noted that the same could be said of China, whose economic
growth is also highly dependent on exports.
At a Group of 20 financial summit in Pittsburgh in late September,
Japan and China were asked to end their structural dependence on exports in
order to help correct imbalances in the global economy.
On the world currency system, Gyohten suggested that today's
dollar-based one is growing more unstable because the credibility of the
U.S. currency is weakening and there is no alternative to the dollar.