JAPAN

Real Estate Slide Could Hurt Recovery: The prolonged slide in Japanese real estate values could hamstring economic recovery as demand for credit by corporations picks up over the next several months, economists say. While sliding asset prices hurt the economy in several ways, the most direct is that it restrains new bank lending. “You need growth in credit for the economy to grow,” said Jesper Koll, an economist at S.G. Warburg. “Banks have to be able to lend.”