• The Japanese stock market has enjoyed an unprecedented boom in the last two years, despite unrest in other parts of the world

Arab News Japan

TOKYO: YAMAJI Hiromi, the CEO of Japan Exchange Group, which runs the Tokyo Stock Exchange, says the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have had little direct impact.

“We don’t have a direct or negative impact from Ukraine or the Middle East, but, yes, there’s an indirect impact because of the deterioration of the situation there,” Yamaji told Arab News Japan.

“I think after Russia invaded Ukraine; the major impact was nothing on the stock market but on inflation in Japan. We are importing a lot of grain and energy resources, so energy prices increased substantially because of the logistics disruption from Ukraine.”

He added that as a result, prices inflated, and this could repeat itself because of the war in the Middle East.

“I think if it leads to higher energy prices, again, that will have an impact on the Japanese economy and then on the Japanese stock market,” he said.

The Japanese stock market has enjoyed an unprecedented boom in the last two years, despite unrest in other parts of the world. This success can be attributed to the positive impact of corporate governance reforms, which have led to record high earnings and dividends for Japanese companies.