简体中文
By APD writer Alice
Major Japanese companies have shown their increasing pessimism about the economy due to worries over prolonged US-China trade tensions and consumption tax hike late last year.
A Kyodo News survey announced on January 3 indicated that 19 percent of 113 surveyed companies, including Toyota Motor Corp., NTT Docomo Inc. and Sony Corp., said Japan’s growth was gradually expanding, down 4 percent from last summer’s survey, while none said the world’s third-largest economy was growing strongly.
Some 61 percent said the economy was flat, and 19 percent saw it as in gradual recession.
For 2020, 43 percent of the companies said they expect the economy to grow with Tokyo’s hosting of the Olympics and Paralympics in the summer.
Despite the impact on the economy, 63 percent of the polled companies said the consumption tax hike was an “appropriate decision” by the government for fiscal rehabilitation, compared with 2 percent opposed to the increase.
On the Japan-South Korea relationship, which worsened to its lowest level in decades in 2019 due to differences over wartime forced labor compensation and trade issues, 42 percent of the busineseds urged the government to “restore the situation to normal.”
Only 7 percent backed the idea of tighten regulations on information technology giants, such as Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google LLC.
Some 29 percent said they hope the government will have a “careful” discussion, as tighter regulations could hurt technological innovations.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
