88% of Japanese Firms Expect Economy to Grow

Some 88 percent of major Japanese companies surveyed expect the economy to grow by the end of 2015, and nearly half of them plan to boost capital spending in the business year through March, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday.

The results of the survey indicate Japanese companies are generally optimistic about the country’s economic prospects, despite weak consumer spending and increasing uncertainties about China.

Of a total of 108 companies surveyed between late July and mid-August, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., 95 firms said they think the economy will expand by the end of this year, of which 89 expect moderate growth. Seven firms said they expect growth to be flat, while only one projected a moderate slowdown.

The Japanese economy shrank an annualized real 1.6 percent in the April-June period due to a fall in consumption and sluggish exports, boding ill for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to lift the economy out of deflation.

On the current state of the economy, 83 percent of the companies polled said it is expanding moderately, with 16 percent viewing it as being “flat.” None said the Japanese economy is slowing down.

via Mainichi

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