LONDON : Japan would face "a fairly strong" recession if it were to raise interest rates, Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said on Monday. Blanchard delivered his remarks on the same day the Bank of Japan was widely suspected of having intervened in the currency markets to boost the yen, which has fallen sharply this year to 34-year lows against the dollar. Part of the decline in the currency has been blamed on Japan's ultra-loose monetary policy, as