IOC: postponed Olympics 'to kickstart' japan economy.

Postponing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will provide a welcome boost to the coronavirus-hit Japanese economy next year, a senior International Olympic Committee official claimed on Thursday.

With tens of thousands dying around the world from the coronavirus, the IOC and Japan last month took the historic decision to delay the Olympics by one year, with an Opening Ceremony planned for July 23, 2021.

The pandemic has devastated the global economy as economists predict a second Great Depression, with $9 trillion wiped out and tens of millions of jobs lost.

Japan, the world's third-largest economy, is no exception, but IOC official John Coates told reporters holding the Games in 2021 could be a "very positive opportunity for an economic stimulus" that could "kickstart the economy again."

"I think there will be a lot of countries and cities around the world wishing for a similar opportunity," he said.

Economists at SMBC Nikko Securities have estimated postponing the Games would reduce Japan's GDP this year by some $6 billion-to be recouped next year if the Olympics actually take place.

Coates claimed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "may well have had in mind that your country may be in a recession then and this would be an opportunity for a great...