by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) – Confidence among the leaders of Japan’s big industrial companies deteriorated in the third quarter, the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) “tankan” survey released on Monday showed, fueling the idea that the weakness of the yen and its inflationary impact on costs is hurting the fragile economic rebound.
Fears of a global economic trough are also clouding the outlook for Japan’s export-dependent economy, which is barely recovering from the impact of the coronavirus health crisis.
There was a slight improvement, however, as service-sector confidence improved slightly over the July-September period, although the rise in the cost of living made sector leaders less optimistic about the future.
According to the central bank’s survey, the index of sentiment for large companies in the manufacturing sector fell to +8 in September, against +9 in June, while the consensus stood at +11.
Key industry executives expect the business climate to improve over the next three months.
(Redaction of Paris)
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