biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday September 30, 9:35 pm Eastern Time
Conditions, outlook severer for
smaller firms--BOJ
TOKYO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan's September
''tankan'' survey of business sentiment showed that for smaller
firms both business conditions and the outlook were more severe
than for major firms, a BOJ official said on Thursday.
The head of the BOJ's research and statistics department, Shosaku Murayama, said the survey
showed that corporate financing conditions remained severe.
He said that coupled with a worsening in earnings, the tankan showed that overall business
conditions remained depressed.
Although the survey reflected firms' expectations of positive effects from the government's economic
stimulus packages, overall sentiment among businesses remained cautious and the BOJ needed to
carefully monitor future developments, he said.
Murayama also said the survey showed that capital spending by smaller firms had sharply declined.
Regarding the BOJ's latest credit easing, carried out on September 9, he said it was difficult to judge
the effect only by the tankan survey.
He added that the central bank would need to look at various economic indicators and it would give
its assessment of the effects of the easing on the economy through its monthly report.
Worries over the worsening in banks' lending attitude due to concerns about the financial sector had
spread among companies, Murayama said.
He added that the tankan showed that firms' inventory levels had not greatly improved. |
