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To: lorne who wrote (24018)	12/8/1998 6:23:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

Japan Sees Bright Signs in Economy Tuesday, 8 December 1998 T O K Y O (AP) JAPAN'S STRUGGLING economy showed isolated signs of improvement in November but the overall outlook remains bleak, the government said Tuesday. Domestic demand for household appliances and mini-vehicles recovered slightly, and growth in Japan's unemployment rate appeared to be easing, the Economic Planning Agency said in its monthly report on the economy. Still, the general state of the economy remained "extremely severe," an assessment that was unchanged from the previous month's report. "We see some bright signs here and there," said EPA official Takashi Omori. "But, on the other hand, there are things that continue to worsen, so we're not at the point where we can say the overall picture has started to change." The agency said that deflationary pressures in the economy continued to cut into corporate profits, forcing continued layoffs and cutbacks in investment. In other developments, Japan's lower house of Parliament approved a 5.676 trillion yen ($47.3 billion) supplementary budget Tuesday, effectively enacting a spending measure designed to help jump start the nation's moribund economy. The extra budget, the third of its kind for the current fiscal year, earmarks funds to finance part of the government's most recent economic stimulus package, which totals a record 24 trillion yen ($200 billion). Passage by the powerful lower house effectively turns the measure into law. Japan's jobless rate remained at a record high of 4.3 percent for the third straight month in October, the latest period for which figures were available. One of the few strong areas - continued growth in exports - was being threatened as economies in the United States and Europe show signs of faltering and protectionist pressures emerge. Japanese steelmakers on Tuesday slammed the handling of a U.S. government investigation over Japan's alleged dumping of steel products, saying they were given unfair treatment. Japan is mired in its worst recession since World War II, as debt-ridden financial institutions scale back on lending, starving companies of cash. EPA Director General Taichi Sakaiya told reporters after the release of the report that he believed the economy "may be approaching the bottom," but that he was unsure when it would start to recover.