S&P warns Japan in chatroom interview

Clients had a chance to quiz Standard and Poor’s sovereign analyst Takahira Ogawa first hand on Feb. 22 when he joined a discussion in the Reuters Messaging chatroom, The Dealing Room. Ogawa told clients that the probability was low for a Japanese ratings downgrade this year, but warned that fiscal consolidation is essential and another bout of deflation or a double-dip recession would prove challenging for Japan to manage.