Japan counts the cost of record quake

Don't expect Japan's stockmarket or the economy to recover as quickly as they did after the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

The disaster in Japan will disrupt trade and investment between Asia and Japan in the short term, but our readers are still more worried about inflation, according to last week’s web poll.

Not counting employee contributions, financial institutions across the region are pledging millions of dollars to help Japan recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11.

For the time being at least, the three main rating agencies are taking a sanguine view of Japan's sovereign and corporate debt, but warn that it is too early to make a judgment.

Despite already high public debt and previous credit rating agency scrutiny, the effect of extra borrowing for Japan's bond markets should be limited, according to Bunt Ghosh, vice-chairman for Asia-Pacific fixed income at Credit Suisse.

The quake has killed nearly 5,000 people, injured twice that many and displaced up to 200,000 - now economists must determine how it will impact the nation's economy.