The Bank of Japan cut its economic assessment as manufacturing activities stagnate

-

The Bank of Japan cut its economic assessment for three regions out of nine nationwide in its regional economic report (Sakura Report) released on January 15. Tokai and Hokuriku regions in the Chubu were included in the downgraded three. 

 Manufacturing activities have stagnated significantly due to the effects of the global economic slowdown caused by US-China trade friction and severe typhoon damages. 

 On the other hand, the bank has analyzed that overall economy is expanding moderately in spite of the slowdown effect from overseas economies and natural disasters. 

 As for the future outlook on domestic demand, the bank also expects it will continue to expand moderately limiting the influence of slowing overseas economies. 

 The bank expects that consumers’ spending will hold up the impact brought by the recent consumption tax hike and its influence will not linger with tail wind of improving employment and income.

However, business people are worried that consumers are becoming more frugal, so they will be watching closely the economic situation after June, when the point redemption program provided by the government to mitigate the impact of the consumption tax hike is expected to end.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Investing in Japan: Menicon, a leading Japanese contact lens manufacturer, aims overseas market expansion

-
Image
Menicon secured profit growth amid COVID-19 disruptions Menicon Co., Ltd. is a leading contact lens manufacturer in Japan founded in 1951, headquartered in Nagoya. It consistently develops, manufactures and sells contact lenses and related products in-house. To date, Menicon has developed various types of contact lenses such as hard lenses, soft lenses, disposables (disposable), lenses for astigmatism and bifocal lenses. It has the No. 1 market share for hard lenses and the No. 2 market for soft lenses in Japan.  As for the recent consolidated financial results, Menicon announced that net income for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 was 4 billion yen, up 14% from the previous year. While the sales and profits of most Japanese companies fell sharply due to the spread of new coronavirus infections, Menicon increased its sales by 4.5% from the previous year to 84.5 billion yen, a record high for the fifth consecutive year since listing of its stock. On the other hand, the earnings fo
Read more

Investing in Japan: Toyota shows its strength shrugging off pandemic damage and semiconductor shortage

-
Image
COVID-19 cases rise in Japan amid state of emergency, Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to be downsized The Japanese government has decided to add three prefectures to its state of emergency as coronavirus cases continue to rise.   Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on May 14 that he decided to expand a COVID-19 state of emergency covering Tokyo and other areas to three more prefectures as infections continue to surge ahead of the Summer Olympics.  Starting on May 15, it will cover Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima in an effort to curb infections and ease the strain on medical systems. The government will also designate three more prefectures as areas where intensive virus measures should be taken which is often called “Manbou”, acronym in Japanese for quasi-emergency to contain the virus.  Daily new cases have been on the rise nationwide in recent weeks reaching more than 6,000 for the fourth straight day as of May 14. The recent spike in new cases forces the organizers of the Tokyo Olym
Read more

Food and Drinks: Kaiten-sushi serves fresh and high quality of seafood

-
Image
Conveyor belt sushi , also known as Kaiten-sushi is a semi-self-service type, inexpensive sushi restaurant where small plates bringing various types of sushi on them are continuously circulated on chain conveyors installed along the seats.  Fresh and well-made sushi can be enjoyed for relatively cheap prices there. Plates typically come with one or two sushi pieces each and customers pick up plates they like. Customers can also place orders through a touch screen at each table when sushi they like is not available on conveyor belts.  Those Sushi are usually served on plates with several colors showing their prices ranging from 100 yen to around 500 yen. Some restaurants set the same price for all plates. The lowest price for a plate is usually 100 yen. That is why Kaiten-sushi is often called "100 yen sushi" and very popular among Japanese. Customers are given their bills from a staff who counts plates when they finish eating. Kaiten-sushi has grown thanks to technologie
Read more