Teikoku Databank Japan felt the pulse of Japanese companies about their perspectives of 2013 and prospects for 2014:
- The real GDP growth rate (revised figure) for the July-September period, as released on December 9, 2013, shows that it has experienced a 0.3% increase from the previous period (April to June) and saw an annualized growth rate of 1.1%. Thus, there has been positive growth for four consecutive quarters. While some industries are showing good performance results due to the last-minute demand before the consumption tax increase (in addition to the Abenomics effect), there also exist some regions and industries that haven’t necessarily benefited from such factors.
- The biggest cause for concern regarding the 2014 economic forecast was “taxation” (58.6%, a 23.8-point year-to-year increase).
- “Petroleum/material price (rises)” (53.0%, a 33.2-point year-to-year increase) scored higher than 50%, indicating a significant increase in the number of companies that are concerned about its negative impact on the economy.
- Of the companies surveyed, 26.2% responded that the Japanese economy experienced a “recovery” phase in 2013. This is the highest percentage for this response since the first survey (2006), marking a significant increase from 2.1% in the previous year. Meanwhile, those who said the economy had “worsened” dropped dramatically from 50.1% to 8.0%.
The TDB’s research was conducted in conjunction with the November 2013 study by TDB Trends Research. Surveys on economic forecasts have been conducted annually since November 2006, making this the eighth edition of the survey. 22,863 companies across Japan were surveyed, with 10,493 companies providing valid responses (a response rate of 45.9%).
