Japan\\\'s \\\'Abenomics\\\' faces critical test

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to light a fire under the country's long-tepid economy will this month face its most critical test with a long-awaited update to his plans for structural reforms. Farming and pharmacology, pension investments and immigration, taxes and trade are all expected to be addressed in some way as pressure builds on the premier to make good on his early promise to slough off two decades of economic lassitude. The reforms are the final tranche of the prime minister's "Abenomics" action plan, which burst into life in early 2013 with a huge public spending bonanza and an unprecedented monetary easing campaign by the Bank of Japan. That gave the economy a shot in the arm and set off a blazing stock market rally as firms' profitability fattened on the back of a sharply weaker yen, according to AFP.