Japan is well-known as having the biggest stock of public debt in the industrial world.
But what is even more worrying to David Asher is that it also beats all records for debt service, implying the need for Herculean belt-tightening unless economic growth suddenly takes off again after a decade of stagnation. Asher told a conference on fiscal reform. Except bond investors will have gone on strike well before then. The likelihood is that unless you make substantial changes you'll run into a fiscal crisis,'' he said. The message from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, though couched more diplomatically, is similar.