Corporate Japan situation has seen significant improvement

JAPAN

The Japanese economy has now been recovering for about a year after the deep recession caused by the global crisis.

GDP is expected to have grown 5.5% on an annualised basis in the first quarter of 2010 after three previous quarters of growth. The driver behind the recovery so far has been exports and Japan’s position within the rapidly developing North Asian area, with Asian exports now 3.5 times those to the US proving very helpful. Confidence at both the corporate and consumer levels is also improving with strong recoveries since the nadir at the end of 2008. The DPJ government elected last summer, with a motto of moving spending from concrete to people, is introducing a family allowance system ...