Japan PM Abe: Wants to start cash handouts as early as possible in May

Comments by Japan prime minister, Shinzo Abe, in parliament

Japan
  • Economy is in an extremely severe state
  • This will continue for some time
  • Japan not seeing an explosive increase in virus cases now
The headline remark relates to the ¥100,000 cash handout to every citizen in the country. When launching these measures, timing and effectiveness are both equally key.
It sounds good to get money to every citizen to mitigate the fallout from the virus impact. But if it takes too long to reach them, the damage becomes more permanent.
In the case of other government measures, the effectiveness matters too. A good example is the US’ PPP funding whereby large and publicly traded companies even swooped in for the money alongside smaller companies and mom-and-pop shops.
So, while the market may respond favourably to these stimulus measures on the announcement, the true “value” depends on the execution. And that will show up in the medium-to-long term fundamentals in each country once this is all over and done with.