Japan is fast approaching its own fiscal cliff

The government is fast approaching a “fiscal cliff”. An extraordinary session of parliament is meeting from Monday (29th), in which the government will try to force the passage of deficit-covering bills needed to finance 40% of spending this fiscal year (which began in April). If it fails, it will run out of money in early December and a partial government shutdown is possible. This could tip the economy into a deep recession. This is unlikely as all the main political parties have too much to lose. An agreement will be reached but at the cost of an early general election, probably before year end.