gg oe a 08 0.0 O05 OvT6 OTE ove Cv1é OvTT ov1s BBofAML | Consensus (Bloonberg, as of 1& Now 2076) Source: BofA Merrill Lynch forecasts, Bloomberg Izumi Devalier © Japan Economist Merrill Lynch (Japan) HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_014402 --- PAGE BREAK --- Bankof America a Merrill Lynch 2017 Institutional Investor (All

imate the Nikkei 225 index will recover to 20,000 by end-2017 (see $/¥’s eventual surge: Buy Nikkei 06 September 2016). Our new Chief Japan Economist Izumi Devalier forecasts above-consensus Japan GDP growth and inflation in 2017, which is also supportive of our bullish equities scenario (see Ready for ignition 1