TOKYO’S 2020 Summer Olympic Games could boost the economy by as much as 1 percent with construction and tourism helping to fuel growth, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said Monday.

    Investment in Olympic--related construction, including a new stadium, will total 10 trillion yen (US$83 billion) by 2020, with a building rush peaking in 2018, according to a report from the central bank.

    The BOJ said the number of foreign visitors to the country was expected to reach 33 million in 2020, from 13.4 million in 2014.

    It estimated that gross domestic product in the world’s No.3 economy in 2018 would get a boost of as much as 6 trillion yen, resulting in a 1 percent increase compared with overall GDP in 2014.

    But that uptick would gradually fade by 2020, the central bank said, warning that Japan needs to create new demand so that the economic impact of the Olympic Games can continue after the event ends.

    Tokyo staged Asia’s first Olympic Games in 1964. It also unveiled the iconic Shinkansen, or bullet train, that symbolized the country’s rise from defeat in World War II to its emergence as a major economic power.

    (SD-Agencies)