TOKYO – Major Japanese manufacturers are feeling optimistic for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, a key survey showed today, marking a further improvement after business confidence plunged last year.
The Bank of Japan’s Tankan quarterly business poll of about 10,000 companies showed a reading of 5 among big manufacturers.
A positive figure means more manufacturers see business conditions as favourable than those that consider them unfavourable.
The upbeat reading beats a market consensus estimate of -1, and is the first positive reading since September 2019, before the coronavirus began to wreak havoc on the world’s economy.
Three months ago, the same survey showed a reading of -10, up from -27 in the September survey and -34 in June – the lowest level since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.
The short-term business sentiment survey is considered to be the broadest indicator of how Japan Inc is faring, and comes after the country lifted a pandemic state of emergency in the Tokyo area on March 22.
Despite a spike in infections over the winter, Japan has seen a comparatively small outbreak overall with around 9,000 deaths, and has avoided imposing the blanket lockdowns implemented in other countries.
However, the number of new cases is rising gradually in the capital here, and more quickly in some other regions, sparking fears of a fourth wave as Japan’s vaccine drive lags behind many other large economies.
Today’s survey also showed confidence among big non-manufacturers improving to -1 – against a market consensus of -4 – after logging -5 in December.
The Japanese government last year announced several multibillion-dollar stimulus packages to shore up the world’s third-largest economy as it suffered a coronavirus slump.
In December, it approved more than US$700 billion (RM2.9 trillion) in fresh stimulus to fund projects from anti-coronavirus measures to green tech, the country’s third such package this financial year.
Japan’s economy grew at a slower 2.8% in the October-December quarter, while it shrank 4.8% in 2020 – its first annual contraction since 2009. – AFP, April 1, 2021
