A series of economic measures taken by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration has been basically successful in improving prospects for the economy, but it remains uncertain whether Japan will actually emerge from deflation and regain stable economic growth, according to three noted economic experts.

The Abe administration came up with a three-pillar economic policy package, dubbed "Abenomics," on its inauguration Dec. 26 last year.

What the administration calls the three "arrows" in the Abenomics economic agenda, envisaged, in part, taking bold monetary easing measures. The Bank of Japan's very accommodative monetary policy contributed to pushing down long-term interest rates and increasing stock prices, and as a result the yen turned toward depreciation on exchange markets. According to the government's scenario, these effects should prompt the general public to have inflationary expectations, and foresee increases in wages and prices, thereby helping to further stimulate the economy, but such a favorable cycle of expectations is yet to be seen, the experts said.

As one of the three arrows, the administration has launched an ambitious growth strategy, but the course of efforts to this end is not predictable, either, they said.

The remarks were made by Kazuto Uchida, an executive officer of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Hitoshi Suzuki, a senior economist in charge of research, recommendation and planning at the Daiwa Institute of Research, and Kenji Yumoto, vice chairman of the Japan Research Institute. Their discussion was moderated by Genron NPO President Yasushi Kudo.

"The Abenomics policy package is half successful at present, but a careful watch is necessary to ascertain whether the remaining half will be truly effective in improving the economy," Yumoto said.

The Abenomics policy agenda is primarily designed to stimulate the economy by boosting people's expectations for increases in consumption and capital spending by companies. Pessimistic views about the course of the economy heard before the inauguration of the Abe administration have weakened and expectations that Japan may be able to pull out of deflation appear to be increasing, he said.

It remains to be seen if the desired effects are actually emerging on the government's policy of stimulating people's expectations for inflation to keep the economy on a recovery track, Uchida said. An increasing number of companies are ready to increase wages toward the next fiscal year while, according to a recent newspaper report, private companies plan to increase their capital spending from now on, according to Uchida. "However, as far as hard data about the economic performance are concerned," the economic picture is not necessarily favorable, he said.

Sentiment on the economy's performance is brightening not only among financial market participants but also among entrepreneurs and some individuals, Suzuki said. But he sounded relatively cautious about the course of the economy, noting slower increases in exports amid some unfavorable signs in the global economy and the planned hike in Japan's consumption tax rate in 2014.