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Japan suffers record fall in output
By Mure Dickie in Tokyo
Published: December 26 2008 04:02 | Last updated: December 26 2008 04:02
Japanese industry suffered a record fall in output in November as unemployment continued to rise and household spending kept sliding, the latest set of gloomy figures from the world’s second-largest economy showed on Friday.
November’s 8.1 per cent month-on-month decline in industrial output, which followed a long series of bad news from Japanese government statisticians, was “particularly striking”, Kaoru Yosano, minister for economic and fiscal policy, told a news conference.
The industrial output fall was the most rapid since the current index was introduced in 1953 and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said its survey showed manufacturers expected another 8 per cent decline this month.
Japan’s economy as a whole contracted in the second and third quarters of 2008 and many economists say a return to growth is unlikely until there is a recovery in demand from export markets, including the US, Europe and China.
While Taro Aso, prime minister, has promised cash handouts, tax cuts and better benefits for those made redundant, the woes of prominent companies such as Toyota are having a growing effect on consumer confidence.
Household spending fell an inflation-adjusted 0.5 per cent year-on-year, its ninth consecutive monthly contraction, although the decline was smaller than many analysts had feared.
Unemployment rose to a seasonally adjusted 3.9 per cent, up 0.2 of a percentage point from October, and the cabinet predicts unemployment will hit 4.7 per cent in the new fiscal year.
Consumer price inflation is also falling fast, with the core CPI index at 1 per cent in November, compared with 1.9 per cent the month before.
The decline in consumer inflation will fuel concerns of a looming return to deflation in 2009 that might undermine economic recovery.
While lower consumer price growth reflects in large part the fall in energy and commodity costs – a boost for Japan’s import-reliant economy – corporate and individual consumers are hardly rushing to take advantage.
Oil product sales fell to a 21-year low in November, according to data released yesterday. Japanese sales of petroleum products declined 9.5 per cent year-on-year to 17.09m kilolitres.
However, stock investors largely inured to bad news about the domestic economy shrugged off the slew of cheerless statistics. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 140.02 points, or 1.63 per cent, at 8,739.52.
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