Japanese Execs Confident on Economy in 2013

Sixty percent of leaders from the nation's top 30 corporations believe the economy will moderately recover in the first half of this year, while nearly 70 percent think the economy is in a mild decline, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey for the New Year.


All survey respondents said the economy was either in a mild decline or at a standstill. Twenty respondents said the economy was "moderately declining," while nine said it was "in a temporary lull."

When asked the cause of the current economic situation, 21 selected "the worsening economy of China and other newly emerging nations" while 18 picked "the continuing European fiscal and financial crises" from a multiple-choice list.

But many of the 30 leaders predicted a recovery.

Eighteen respondents said they expected the economy to show a "moderate recovery" while nine said they expected it to "remain at a standstill" and three said they expected it to show a "moderate aggravation."

In their predictions of price-adjusted real economic growth for 2013, 12 respondents chose "from 1 percent to less than 1.5 percent" and 10 respondents selected "from 0.5 percent to less than 1 percent." None of the 30 expected negative growth.



http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T130103003610.htm