Hopes rise in Japan

Japan's Economic Recovery

Hopes of a brighter economic future for Japan are rising off the back of a very unlikely source. An extensive survey of Japanese manufacturers points towards growing confidence in the economy after seeing an unexpected rise in sales for crisis-hit car-giant Toyota.

The news came as troubled Toyota saw a 50.7 percent jump in domestic car sales last month, industry figures showed, and the Bank of Japan's index subsequently found that business confidence had improved for the fourth successive quarter.

Toyota sold 204,514 vehicles last month compared with 146,145 a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said. Sales of Toyota's luxury Lexus brand almost tripled to 4,919 units. The notorious electro-petrol Prius hybrid was largely responsible for the rise, thanks to a glut of orders placed before the safety recall crisis.

Confidence is returning

The survey, called the Tankan, surveyed 10,000 companies to measure the percentage of firms that think business conditions are positive, minus those that think they are negative. The latest survey found that confidence is at its highest since September 2008 - around about the ti9me when the global economic crisis hit. In March the reading was -14, against -25 in December.

The BBC reports that sentiment among big non-manufacturers also improved to -14, from -21 in December.

Confidence in the nation's economic conditions is by no means felt across the board, and the survey highlights that a high level of pessimism still remains. Nonetheless Japanese officials are happy to see confidence is moving in the right direction.

One of the most significant indications that confidence is returning to the Japanese manufacturing sector is the decision by large manufacturers to revise its cut in capital spending to just 0.9 percent over the next 12 months from a massive 30 percent in the previous year.

Japanese investors also had something to cheers as the largest IPO since Visa US$19.7 billion deal in 2008 was issued by Dai-ichi Life, worth US$11 billion.

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Has BOJ policy failed? | Is Japan heading for a debt crisis? | Japan step up stimulus measures

Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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